ORNL to lose 189 workers through voluntary separations by Dec. 31

One hundred eighty-nine employees at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will go off the payroll at the end of this month as part of a workforce reduction announced in September.

ORNL had received permission to reduce its staff by up to 475 employees, but in September, officials said they hoped they wouldn’t have to make that many cuts.

The voluntary separation program, or VSP, was part of the lab’s response to federal budget pressures. ORNL has also implemented other belt-tightening measures during the past few years.

“This is never an easy thing to do,” ORNL Communications Director David Keim said of the VSP on Thursday. “We continue to try to control costs and provide resources focused on our scientific mission.”

Keim said the final decision on the VSP was made Dec. 6. Two hundred and twenty workers applied, and 31 applications were rejected. Those who were accepted will go off the payroll by Dec. 31.

ORNL has close to 4,500 workers, and it is the U.S. Department of Energy’s largest multidisciplinary science lab.

More information will be added as it becomes available.