These WI Companies Had Mass Layoffs In July: List

More than 340 Wisconsin workers got word this month that their jobs are going away, as seven employers filed notices with the state disclosing layoffs or facility closures.

The filings fall under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, better known as WARN, which requires employers with 50 or more workers to give 60 days notice before a mass layoff or plant closing.

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Wisconsin has its own version of the law, the Business Closing and Mass Layoff Law, which can require notice even from smaller employers.

The idea behind both is to give workers a head start on finding a new job, filing for unemployment, or lining up retraining before the layoff actually hits.

Here is who filed in July, and what they said.

— Thermo Fisher Scientific is shutting down its clinical research facility on Deming Way in Middleton for good, a closure that will eventually cost 69 people their jobs. The cuts will not all land at once. Separations start September 28 and continue in waves through March 2027, hitting lab scientists, clinical data staff and project managers as different teams wind down operations.

— In Fort Atkinson, School Specialty is closing its distribution facility on Janesville Avenue, where 59 people currently work. Ten of them accepted remote positions and are staying with the company, leaving 49 workers, mostly warehouse and fulfillment center staff, who will be let go in weekly waves starting September 25.

— West Bend-based Wisconsin Green, a corrugated box and display manufacturer, filed a conditional notice warning that a permanent closing or significant layoff at its Stonebridge Road facilities is under consideration, though no final call has been made. If it happens, as many as 59 workers, spanning production, sales and management, could be separated starting as early as July 22, with a fuller closing possible around September 18.

— Prairie Farms Dairy is shutting down two Shullsburg plants entirely. At the Shullsburg Creamery, 43 production and packaging workers lost their jobs July 20. At the nearby White Hill Cheese plant, another 54 workers are set to be laid off August 14, with a small crew kept on afterward to help close the facility.

— In Milwaukee, Centers for Independence is shutting down its MCFI Home Care program, a move that will affect 43 employees, mostly caregivers, when the program closes October 31.

— And at Cafe Corazon in Bay View, owners Wendy and George Mireles are permanently closing the restaurant's Kinnickinnic Avenue location, laying off 26 employees around September 1.