COVID-19  April 13, 2020

Layoffs, furloughs hit Factual Data, Sunrise Medical, Fort Lupton, Nederland

Layoffs and furloughs have hit more businesses in the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado, and, for the first time, municipal governments.

Notices under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act were posted recently with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment for Loveland-based Factual Data, Boulder-based Sunrise Medical LLC, the city of Fort Lupton and the town of Nederland.

WARN notices are generally required when a company with more than 100 employees has a mass layoff or closes.

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Factual Data, a Loveland-based credit and risk mitigation service provider for the mortgage lending industry, laid off 26 employees over the past two weeks, according to WARN Act documents.

“As you know, the recent COVID-19 recently reached pandemic proportions. The federal government and many states have declared a state of emergency and ordered the closure of non-essential businesses and issued travel restrictions,” Factual Data’s WARN letter said. “The emergency and these sudden and unexpected factors have adversely affected our business operation and caused these permanent layoffs.”

The company does not specify what positions will be impacted by the layoffs. 

Sunrise Medical LLC, a Boulder-based designer and manufacturer of manual and power wheelchairs, has furloughed 23 employees, according to information posted Monday to the WARN Act database. 

Of the 23 workers furloughed, 15 will be away from work for every other week and the other eight are out one week each month. 

In addition to the furloughs, which began Monday, Sunrise will reduce the hours worked by an additional eight employees, the firm’s WARN notice letter said. 

Despite the temporary workforce reductions, Sunrise is “not ceasing all of its operations,” the WARN document said. 

Nederland is putting three town employees on temporary unpaid leave, according to a letter sent to the impacted employees by Nederland municipal officials.

The furloughs, which went into effect March 27 and were due to COVID-19’s “financial impact to tax revenues,” are expected to last until at least April 30.

Nederland’s WARN notice letter does not specify which positions have been furloughed.

And the city of Fort Lupton has sent furlough notices to part-time employees of its Recreation and Community Center and the Coyote Creek Golf Course. At total of 78 employees were put on leave.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has created extraordinary business circumstances,” Fort Lupton human-resources director Laura Howe said in the city’s WARN letter. “Many city facilities have been closed and services discontinued or been reduced. Due to these ongoing emergency conditions, the city is implementing a temporary furlough.

“Effective Saturday, April 18th, your position is being temporarily furloughed and as such, you are being placed on a temporary, unpaid leave of absence.”

Howe said Fort Lupton does not anticipate additional furloughs at this time.

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Ken Amundson
Ken Amundson is managing editor of BizWest. He has lived in Loveland and reported on issues in the region since 1987. Prior to Colorado, he reported and edited for news organizations in Minnesota and Iowa. He's a parent of two and grandparent of four, all of whom make their homes on the Front Range. A news junkie at heart, he also enjoys competitive sports, especially the Rapids.
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