NCDOT begins layoffs, will cut more than 400 positions

The state Department of Transportation will eliminate more than 400 positions in the coming months, DOT Secretary Gene Conti told employees today.

"Those positions will no longer exist in this department as of June 30, 2012," Conti announced by email. "We are notifying staff as soon as we are certain their positions will be eliminated."

Conti cited budget cuts that have required all state government departments to reduce spending. 

"We were not immune, although we were given time to decide how to make the necessary workforce reductions," he said. "We are making every effort to give as much notice as possible so that those impacted have time to digest the new, investigate [Reduction in Force] options wihtin the Department and State Government, search for other employment, and make plans for their changing future."

Conti spokeswoman Greer Beaty said she did not have exact numbers yet on how many people will lose their jobs, and how many vacant positions will be cut.

"There are more than 400 positions, and they cut across all job classifications," Beaty said. "Our business unit managers are notifying people over the next week."

Budget cuts this year have eliminated filled and vacant 13,403 state positions so far -- including 6,455 employees who have been laid off, according to estimates provided last week by the legislature's fiscal research staff.

They include:

* 1,762 positions eliminated (438 employees terminated) in state agencies and departments,
* 814 positions (567 employees) at community colleges,
* 6,308 positions (2,418 employees) in public schools, and
* 4,519 positions (3,032 employees) in the UNC system.