Sen. Hwang Expresses Concerns About Additional Layoffs at Aetna HQ
November 26, 2024
CVS Health Corp. has notified the state that more than 40 additional people connected to the Hartford headquarters of Aetna will be laid off.
Hartford Courant
CVS Health Corp. said in October that it would cut nearly 100 corporate jobs at the Hartford-based headquarters of its Aetna health insurance business, plus another 323 remote jobs that are based in other states but report directly to Hartford. Those jobs range from managers and analysts to underwriters and administrative assistants, according to the earlier 14-page filing.
CVS notified Susan Fracasso, Rapid Response Coordinator for the state Department of Labor and Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam of the new round of layoffs.
“On October 1, 2024, we wrote to inform you that CVS Health will be conducting a mass layoff at its facility located at 151 Farmington Avenue, Hartford, Connecticut…The Company has now determined that additional layoffs will be occurring at this Facility. This action is expected to be permanent,” CVS human resources official Erin Ridge wrote.
“As a result of this decision, employee terminations will be conducted over the 14 -day period beginning on January 25, 2025 through February 7, 2025. These terminations will include employees who work at the Facility and employees who are ‘outstationed’ (i.e., remote) employees but for work purposes report into a leader located at the Facility,” Ridge wrote to Arulampalam and Fracasso.
For the purposes of the state’s required “WARN” notices, Ridge wrote that the “outstationed/remote employees are treated as “assigned” to the Facility. As noted in the enclosed listing, at the column entitled “Employee’s State of Residence (Home Location),” the Company has provided this data so you can clearly view the actual Connecticut employee impacts versus out-of-state impacts.”
“Based on current information, there were 416 employees selected for termination in December 2024 of which only 93 work at the Facility and the remaining employees impacted in the initial selections are outstationed/remote/work at home employees who report into the Facility,” Ridge wrote. “Likewise, this second phase of terminations scheduled for January 2025 will impact a total of 42 employees and only 12 of the selected employees work at the Facility; the remaining 30 are outstationed/remote/work at home employees reporting into the Facility.”
Ridge told the officials that the employees who will be terminated as a result of this action have been notified of specific separation dates and that their separation from employment will be permanent.
She wrote that there are no bumping rights for the “affected employees and the employees are not represented by a union.” People who live in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, among other states, also will be laid off.
Shelly Bendit, senior manager for CVS corporate communications, said Tuesday that “the additional notice to the State of Connecticut is related to the 2,900 corporate roles that we announced at the end of September would be reduced this year, as well as positions impacted by our previously announced decision to discontinue acute home infusion therapies and close infusion pharmacies in our Coram business.”
“While the notice indicates that a total of 42 positions are impacted, only 12 of those positions are based in the state,” Bendit said. “The total number includes people who work remotely but report to someone who is located in Connecticut.”
“We are committed to supporting these colleagues, who will receive severance pay and benefits, including access to outplacement services,” Bendit said.
Cristian Corza-Godinez, a spokesman for the mayor, has previously said Arulampalam “has personally kept in touch with representatives from CVS and has expressed the importance of keeping jobs in Hartford and preserving opportunities for economic growth in our capital city.”
Sen. Tony Hwang, ranking senator on the Insurance and Real Estate Committee, said in response to the updated layoff numbers, “This steady drip, drip, drip of insurance job losses in the ‘Insurance Capital’ continues to be troubling.
“Data scientists, computer engineers and analysts in management-level positions are losing their jobs,” Hwang said in a statement. “This comes in addition to the termination of 416 employees set to be let go in December. Connecticut state government officials must continue to be persistent in seeking transparency during this major transition.”
The layoffs are part of CVS’ plans, announced in October, for slashing 2,900 corporate jobs nationwide, as it seeks to cut $2 billion in expenses over the next several years while it struggles with rising medical costs industrywide. CVS cut 5,000 jobs nationally in 2023.
CVS has grown into a health care giant with its massive chain of pharmacies, health insurance, Medicare-focused physician care in neighborhood clinics and a pharmacy benefit manager. PBMs manage drug plans and influence medication prices and distribution.
But in August, CVS cut its full-year outlook for profits and launched a new plan to cut the $2 billion in costs, with rising costs at Aetna’s Medicare business a particular concern. On Monday, CVS reiterated the reasons behind the cost cutting, as the health care industry faces “disruption, regulatory pressures and evolving consumer needs and expectations.”
When CVS acquired Aetna, it agreed to keep the health insurer headquartered in Hartford for at least a decade, a milestone that will be marked in 2028. A companion agreement with Connecticut insurance regulators included a promise to keep employment at Aetna and its subsidiaries at 5,300 for at least four years. The four years ended in 2022.
The latest positions listed for termination by CVS that are held by Connecticut residents are:
AVP,IT Prog Delivery 1 1/25/2025 Connecticut
Exec Dir, Software Development Engineering 1 1/25/2025 Connecticut
Exec Dir, Colleague Experience 1 1/25/2025 Connecticut
Exec Dir, Data Engineering 1 1/25/2025 Connecticut
Exec Dir, Strategic Programs 1 1/25/2025 Connecticut
Ld Dir, Strat & Prdct Mgt (IC) 1 1/25/2025 Connecticut
Mgr, Digital PO 1 1/25/2025 Connecticut
Mgr, Operations (IC) 1 1/25/2025 Connecticut
Pharmacist 1 1/25/2025 Connecticut
Sr Analyst, FP&A 1 1/25/2025 Connecticut
Sr Data Scientist 1 1/25/2025 Connecticut
Sr Mgr, Bus Consultant (IC) 1 1/25/2025 Connecticut
Sr Mgr, Digital Product 1 1/25/2025 Connecticut
Sr Mgr, Health Care Qual Mgt 1 1/25/2025 Connecticut
Staff Software Development Engineer 1 1/25/2025 Connecticut
Tech I Clinical Support 1 1/25/2025 Connecticut
Tech I, Compounding 1 1/25/2025 Connecticut
VP & Sr Legal Counsel 1 1/25/2025 Connecticut
(This list is not inclusive of the all the Connecticut positions, but only for people who live in Connecticut)
Reporting by Courant staffer Kenneth Gosselin was included in this article.