Hoskinson Contracting and Hoskinson Concrete gave walking papers to a combined 123 employees this week, and an official with one firm said the concrete company will close permanently.
The number of workers laid off is significant, according to state officials, and beyond normal seasonal fluctuations in the construction industry.
Both companies are based in Gillette and founded by Charles Hoskinson, CEO and founder of Input Output Group. He also founded the new Hoskinson Health & Wellness Clinic on the south side of town.
The construction and concrete companies were created to support the clinic, Hoskinson Contracting CEO Chris Davis said in a press statement.
“The large-scale construction needs that led the clinic to create an in-house construction company have come to an end,” Davis said. “As a result, Hoskinson Contracting is scaling back its operations, and the Hoskinson Concrete division is being closed.”
Every laid off employee will remain on payroll through January, according to a company spokesperson. Hoskinson Contracting employed more than 260 workers, according to its website on Friday morning.
Gov. Mark Gordon, in a statement Friday, described the situation as “one of the most significant layoffs Wyoming has ever seen.”
“This is tough news for more than [100] Wyoming workers who showed up, put their skills to work, and who now face job loss,” Gordon said. “I am deeply concerned for the hard-working individuals and families who now face uncertainty, especially during the holiday season.”
Wyoming Workforce Services has organized resources to reach out to affected employees and connect them to other employers in the region, as well as workforce training opportunities.
“We have offered to do a virtual event and to do something at our [Gillette] location,” Administrator of Workforce Programs Holly Simoni told WyoFile. “We’re trying to get specific contact information on these employees so that we can reach out to them and offer our services.”
Affected workers are encouraged to reach out to the Gillette Workforce Center, Simoni said. Job Seekers can look for employment and register at the HireWyo website.
Neither Gillette nor Campbell County elected officials were notified of the layoffs, according to WyoFile inquiries. Reached for comment Friday, Campbell County Commission Chair Kelley McCreery said he was unaware of the layoffs.
“I do know [the companies] expanded really, really fast,” he said.
The county awarded Hoskinson Contracting a job earlier this year to install a boiler at the Northeast Regional Airport outside Gillette, according to McCreery, but the company asked to get out of the contract.
“They came back to us later and said, ‘We have lost some supervisors and we’re spread too thin, and we’d like to get out of the deal.’ So we let them out,” McCreery said.
Hoskinson Contracting will “work in a more limited capacity” going forward, according to Davis. “It will concentrate on maintaining existing Hoskinson properties and overseeing future construction projects, which it will bid out to local Wyoming contractors.”
link