As more CVS/Aetna layoffs loom, some CT lawmakers want more info from company

Oct. 21—HARTFORD — In the past couple of weeks, the embattled CVS Health has provided some significant updates about its workforce in Connecticut.

On Oct. 6, the company informed state officials that it planned to lay off in December more than 400 employees connected to its offices in Hartford. Those job cuts will follow the elimination last year of nearly 600 positions tied to those offices.

A few days later, company officials told CT Insider that the company had nearly 9,000 employees based in Connecticut, a total that includes employees who work in stores and pharmacies.

But some state legislators are frustrated with Rhode Island-based CVS because they still want to know more about the company's presence in this state. Their most-pressing question is one that company officials have declined to answer this month: the number of employees based at the company's offices in Hartford, a hub that includes the headquarters of CVS' Aetna health-insurance business.

"I am concerned about CVS' level of disclosure," state Sen. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, ranking Senate member of the General Assembly's Insurance and Real Estate Committee, said in an Oct. 9 letter to Connecticut Insurance Department Commissioner Andrew Mais that was obtained by CT Insider. "From the start, I have called for transparency. I believe we must shine sunlight on this announcement so that we, as policymakers, can assess it on a bipartisan basis."

In a response sent on Oct. 10, Mais said, "conversations have occurred between the department and CVS leadership." But he did not answer Hwang's questions about where and when those talks took place, the participants, and whether further discussions were planned.

Hwang also asked in his letter if Insurance Department officials knew how many CVS employees were based at or report to 151 Farmington Ave., the address of the company's Hartford offices. Mais responded that the department had not asked CVS officials for that number.

"As our primary responsibility is oversight of Aetna's financial condition, we are not involved in matters related to specific staffing levels," Mais said.

Mais also noted that Woonsocket, Rhode Island-headquartered CVS had, "affirmed its commitment to maintaining Aetna's headquarters in Hartford." CVS announced in October 2018 its pledge to keep Aetna's headquarters in Hartford until at least 2028. It made that promise shortly before completing its approximately $70 billion acquisition of Aetna. A few months earlier, it had abandoned its exploration of the potential relocation of Aetna's headquarters to Manhattan.

As another component of its 2018 pledge, CVS committed to keeping Aetna's in-state head count at approximately 5,300 people for the next four years.

In a written statement provided to CT Insider on Friday, CVS officials said, "Aetna has a long and proud history in Hartford. We remain committed to maintaining our corporate presence at our Farmington Avenue offices."

But they again declined to disclose how many employees are based at, or out of 151 Farmington Ave. They said that while the company publicly shares its number of employees based in a state, it does not provide head counts for "individual facilities."

Separate from the layoffs, CVS announced on Friday that CEO and President Karen Lynch had stepped down after four years in the top job. Another longtime company executive, David Joyner, has been appointed the new chief executive.

"With this change in top leadership, I continue to have concerns, especially with regard to current and future insurance jobs at the Aetna headquarters in Hartford," Hwang said in a written statement. "Hundreds and hundreds of layoffs have already been announced. Connecticut government officials must be persistent in seeking transparency during this major transition."

Other public officials who are communicating with the company include Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam.

"Mayor Arulampalam has personally kept in touch with representatives from CVS and has expressed the importance of keeping jobs in Hartford and preserving opportunities for economic growth in our capital city," Cristian Corza, deputy chief of staff for Arulampalam, said in a written statement on Thursday. But the statement did not make clear whether Arulampalam had asked CVS about its head count in Hartford.

Among those based at or reporting to 151 Farmington Ave., the upcoming layoffs will affect about 90 Connecticut residents, with the remainder being employees who work remotely from other states, according to the layoff notice that CVS sent to the state Department of Labor. CVS sent the letter to comply with the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.

The Hartford-connected positions that will be eliminated will be part of about 2,900 layoffs companywide, mainly affecting corporate roles. The job cuts, which account for less than 1 percent of CVS' workforce, are part of a multi-year effort to save $2 billion by reducing expenses and investing in technology to improve how the company operates, according to company officials.

Other limited information about recent job cuts at the company have also irked some state legislators. Stamford-based career-services firm Indeed, which announced in May that it would lay off about 1,000 employees companywide, has declined since then to specify how many Connecticut-based employees would lose their jobs or provide its current head count.

In response, two state senators, Henri Martin, R-Bristol, and Ryan Fazio, R-Greenwich, wrote to the Department of Economic and Community Development's and Department of Labor's respective commissioners, Daniel O'Keefe and Danté Bartolomeo, to inquire about Indeed's number of layoffs in Connecticut.

O'Keefe and Bartolomeo replied in a joint letter that Indeed had told their departments the number of employees in Connecticut who would be affected by the layoffs. But they said the company, "shared that information with the understanding that it would be kept in confidence." State law does not require their departments to disclose Indeed's number of layoffs, while those job cuts did not meet the requirements for providing a WARN notice in Connecticut, they added.

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