Northrop Grumman on Thursday warned its entire work force of 180 employees at its facility north of Hagerstown that they could be laid off within 60 days, a company spokeswoman said.
“No new work is coming in right now. We’re hoping work will come in, in the fall,” said Leah Smith, the company’s media relations manager.
Northrop Grumman’s local operation is on Showalter Road near Hagerstown Regional Airport.
Company officials were trying to determine if employees can be placed at other Northrop Grumman sites, but did not know Thursday how many could be transferred and how many could be laid off, Smith said.
Asked if any laid-off workers would be put on a recall list for any new work in the fall, Smith said company officials were in the planning phase of such a decision.
“This was not an easy decision,” David Tracy, director of Northrop Grumman Technical Services’ Hagerstown site, said in a news release. “However, we find ourselves closing out existing task orders while waiting on new business opportunities. We are taking prudent business measures today to ensure viability of the operation for the future.”
Company officials expect to complete projects with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Customs and Border Protection in mid-June, according to a company news release.
For both federal agencies, Hagerstown-area workers perform maintenance and modifications to P3 surveillance aircraft, Smith said.
Timothy R. Troxell, executive director of the Hagerstown-Washington County Economic Development Commission, said he was surprised by the news.
“(We) talked to them numerous times over the past year and the facility was doing well,” Troxell said. “I think they added close to 50 people last year.”
“It sounds like they just need to, hopefully, win some more contract work for the type of stuff they do out there,” Troxell said.
Smith would not say what the average salary was at the local operation. Troxell didn’t have any salary figures, but he said they are “well-paid positions.”
The operation started as California Microwave and was purchased by Northrop Grumman Corp. in 1999.
Northrop Grumman announced Jan. 4 its decision to move its corporate office from Los Angeles to the Washington, D.C., area by 2011, according to the company’s Web site. The search was expected to be completed this spring, and the new corporate office would employ about 300 people.
Troxell said Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., were battling over which will be the new home.
“We threw our name out there. We tried to get involved, but it’s going to be a city project,” Troxell said.
The two Maryland counties in the hunt are Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, he said.
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