QVC to lay off nearly 2,000 workers after fire at North Carolina facility 

QVC is laying off close to 2,000 workers at a distribution center in North Carolina after it suffered a fire last month.

In a “notice of closure” letter addressed to the North Carolina Department of Commerce and Rocky Mount, N.C. mayor, Alicia Keane, who works for QVC’s parent company Qurate Retail Group, wrote that “QVC will be closing and ceasing all operations” at its distribution center in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, according to WRAL, which obtained a copy of the letter.

The letter continued, “As a result of this closure, QVC plans to terminate the employment of all employees employed at this location,” which the company said stood at 1,953 workers as of Dec. 29. 

Keane said that employees would begin being laid off Feb. 1 “with all separations accomplished by mid-2022.”

The announcement comes several weeks after QVC’s second-biggest facility suffered a fire on Dec. 18, killing one person, CBS 17 reported. It remains unclear how the fire was started.

In an update from Qurate on Dec. 28, QVC’s parent company said that “career transition services” would be provided to workers impacted “including potential internal roles with the company in other locations as well as partnerships through local organizations for additional job opportunities, financial education, interview training, resume writing support, and job search training.”

Additionally, shutdown pay would be extended until Feb. 1, Quarate said. 

Keane said in her letter to officials that while the damage was still being assessed by officials, “it is clear that the site will not be operable and there will not be work for the team for the foreseeable future.”

In a statement to CBS 17, a spokesperson for QVC said that no longer term decisions had been made regarding the center.

“We are still assessing the impact of the fire and, while we haven’t made any long-term decisions about the site, we already know the building will be closed for an extended period and there will not be work there for the team for the foreseeable future,” a spokesperson for QVC told the news outlet.