Hologic to Lay Off 86 as Danbury Facility ShuttersHologic to Lay Off 86 as Danbury Facility Shutters

Once more, the company CFOs’ comments about layoffs being 'a failure of leadership' have come back to haunt.

Katie Hobbins, Managing Editor

October 22, 2024

2 Min Read
Layoffs
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Hologic CFO Karleen Oberton’s March comments calling mass layoffs a “failure of leadership” is once again coming back to haunt the company. The medical technology company recently notified the Connecticut Department of Labor of the intent to lay off 86 employees from Dec. 20 through Q1 2025 at its closing Danbury, CT facility.

The closure comes after Hologic officials, in October 2021, announced that work being done at the Danbury facility would be relocated to Newark, DE, where the location would be expanded to centralize manufacturing with R&D. Now officially shuttering its doors on Dec. 20, 71 employees will be laid off on that date. After the building closure, a small number of permanent, full-time employees will remain to conduct final post-closure activities, according to the company. Of that number, three workers will be cut on Jan. 31, 2025, and 12 more will be laid off on or around Feb. 14 through Feb. 21, 2025.

Q124 was rife with Hologic announcing company priority shifts, how it was discontinuing certain products, and would close an undisclosed number of international diagnostic division facilities.

In May, the company defined some of its more radical changes, including the closure of its Finland and France facilities, deciding to move key development activities and operations to its San Diego, CA, location. With the closures, 190 total employees across the two locations were terminated.

“During the first quarter of fiscal 2024, the company further refined its strategy for the Mobidiag business, which is within the diagnostics reportable segment,” the SEC filing wrote. “The strategy change included the decision to discontinue the manufacture and sale of certain products, closure of its facilities in Finland and France, and to move the development activities and operations to the company’s San Diego, California location. In connection with this plan, the company finalized its decision to terminate the employees at these locations, totaling 190.”

The ongoing personnel changes with Hologic stand in stark contrast with Oberton’s biting words for medtech executives laying off employees in the industry, telling The Wall Street Journal in March that the company has avoided these actions by carefully managing its hiring. She told the journal that, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, Hologic operated under a “philosophy that mass layoffs are a failure of leadership.”

Seems Hologic may be throwing stones in glass houses.

About the Author

Katie Hobbins

Managing Editor, MD+DI

Katie Hobbins is managing editor for MD+DI and joined the team in July 2022. She boasts multiple previous editorial roles in print and multimedia medical journalism, including dermatology, medical aesthetics, and pediatric medicine. She graduated from Cleveland State University in 2018 with a bachelor's degree in journalism and promotional communications. She enjoys yoga, hand embroidery, and anything DIY. You can reach her at [email protected].

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