Layoffs

Seafood company Phillips Foods Inc. will be closing its Baltimore manufacturing and distribution facility in July and cutting 100 jobs, about 13 percent of its Maryland workforce. The company warned state regulators of the cuts. A separate layoff warning notice to the state came from Capital One Financial Corp., which said 40 workers would be affected when it closes a credit-card operations facility in the Anne Arundel County community of Hanover during the last three months of this year.

Two Maryland employers have warned state labor officials of layoffs that could affect nearly 400 workers. Saks Fifth Avenue said it would terminate a third of its workforce, or 223 employees, at its Aberdeen distribution and order fulfillment center starting in late May, the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said Tuesday. Julia Bentley, a Saks spokeswoman, said the retailer was opening a new fulfillment center for saks.com in Tennessee and was phasing out such jobs in Aberdeen.

Annapolis Mayor Josh Cohen told city employees Thursday that furloughs and layoffs are likely during the next few months in order to close a projected $9 million budget gap. Despite a number of cost-cutting measures that his administration has taken since he took office in December, the job cuts are necessary because of the city's "unprecedented budget crisis," said Cohen, a Democrat. The city faces a projected $2.6 million deficit for the fiscal year ending in June, and a $6.4 million deficit for fiscal year 2011.

Seafood company Phillips Foods Inc. will be closing its Baltimore manufacturing and distribution facility in July and cutting 100 jobs, about 13 percent of its Maryland workforce. The company warned state regulators of the cuts. A separate layoff warning notice to the state came from Capital One Financial Corp., which said 40 workers would be affected when it closes a credit-card operations facility in the Anne Arundel County community of Hanover during the last three months of this year.

Health care services company McKesson Corp. warned state regulators Monday that it would close its Landover facility this spring and lay off 106 employees. The state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said the San Francisco-based company, which specializes in areas such as pharmaceuticals distribution and health care IT, expected the closure to happen April 20. The pharmaceuticals division, which delivers medicine to retailers, pharmacies and hospitals, provided the warning notice.

Rising factory output and a decline in the pace of layoffs are giving economists confidence that the U.S. recovery has staying power. The government is expected to report today that the economy added jobs in March for only the second time since December 2007. Still, job creation is likely to remain weak for years to come, in part because U.S. factories have become more efficient, producing more goods with fewer workers. On top of that, the sector's contribution to the overall economy has been shrinking for decades due to competition from China and other low-wage countries.

Prestige Maintenance warned state regulators Friday that it will lay off 54 janitors over the next several months because its contract to provide cleaning services to Target stores across the state has ended. Texas-based Prestige said Target's new vendor would begin to provide services next week in some stores, with a full transition by October, according to its layoff-warning notice to the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. Prestige did not return a message seeking comment.

Aramark is warning state regulators that it will lay off 84 employees at the end of December if its custodial and housekeeping contract at Towson University is not renewed. The Philadelphia-based firm regularly issues such warnings as its contracts near an end. Aramark recently learned that its contract to provide food and retail services at Oriole Park at Camden Yards will not be renewed for next year. jamie.smith.hopkins@baltsun.com http://twitter.

Bank of America is not releasing details on how many Maryland workers are to be laid off in its job-cutting plan. The financial institutution, the largest in Maryland by deposits, said Monday that it planned to cut 30,000 jobs nationwide over several years. Bank of America says the move, along with other cost-cutting measures, will save $5 billion a year. The bank employs about 4,000 people in Maryland. It has not detailed the locations of any of the job cuts. hanah.cho@baltsun.com Text BUSINESS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun Business text alerts

TransCare Corp. is warning state regulators that it will lay off 55 employees in Baltimore at the end of August as a state transit contract expires. The Aug. 31 expiration of a Maryland Transit Administration contract to provide transportation for Marylanders with disabilities or other physical challenges will affect workers at TransCare's Desoto Road facility in Southwest Baltimore. Brian Nevin, general manager for TransCare's Maryland division, said the company hopes to win another contract for that work and recall employees.

A dry-goods warehouse in Jessup that supplies Giant Food grocery stores and employs about 250 people will close in June, the operator, Jessup Logistics LLC, said Wednesday. The subsidiary of New Hampshire-based C&S Wholesale Grocers said it will save about $13.5 million a year by shifting the distribution work from the traditional warehouse in Jessup to a more technologically advanced facility elsewhere. The company did not say where. "We've undertaken an extensive top-to-bottom evaluation of the operations to determine what solutions are available to provide the best value for our customer and the consumers who ultimately benefit from available savings," said Rick Stacy, a regional vice president who heads the operations, in a statement late Wednesday.

Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz proposed Thursday a general fund operating budget of about $1.65 billion that includes no tax increases but reduces the number of county employees through attrition. In introducing his spending plan for the 12 months beginning in July, Kamenetz highlighted proposed spending on education and infrastructure, including air conditioning for a dozen schools. His budget proposal, presented during his State of the County address to members of the County Council in Towson, holds taxes flat in part by taking advantage of the projected $21 million in yearly savings expected through voluntary retirements of county employees, he said.

Members of the Baltimore County Police Executive Corps have agreed to higher pension contributions and less sick time in exchange for job security over the next three years. Under the agreement, announced Tuesday by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, the members are guaranteed no layoffs or furloughs between fiscal years 2013 and 2015. The bargaining unit is made up of 34 sworn officers ranked captain and above. They are not unionized. As part of the deal, current members will contribute an additional 1 percent of their salaries to their pensions starting July 1. They now contribute between 7 and 8 percent.

Health care services company McKesson Corp. warned state regulators Monday that it would close its Landover facility this spring and lay off 106 employees. The state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said the San Francisco-based company, which specializes in areas such as pharmaceuticals distribution and health care IT, expected the closure to happen April 20. The pharmaceuticals division, which delivers medicine to retailers, pharmacies and hospitals, provided the warning notice.

There were a handful of questions on Lynetta Kizer's mind as her Maryland team bused over from its breakfast at the Marriott Inn & Conference Center to Comcast Center on Saturday morning, arriving for the start of another NCAA tournament not long after dawn. Among them: What time is it? What should I expect from 15th-seeded Navy? How do I make an 11:15 a.m. tip-off feel like it's 7 p.m.? Soon after the morning's first whistle, another arose: What are we doing? The second-seeded Terps' wake-up call came soon enough, but not until early struggles had blighted an opening-round 59-44 win over the Midshipmen.

Navy (2-3) leads this series, winning six of 10 meetings. But since renewing the in-state rivalry for the first time since 1997, the two sides have split the last two contests. The Tigers (2-2) have been a much tougher out at home, going 4-1 with the lone loss occurring April 17, 1993. Here are a few factors that could influence the outcome at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson on Tuesday night. 1) Tigers' hibernation. By the time Towson takes the field for the 7:30 faceoff, 10 days will have elapsed since the team's last contest - a 10-8 victory over Mount St. Mary's on March 3. Rust is a concern, according to coach Shawn Nadelen.

The Sparrows Point steel mill in Baltimore County is offering temporary, voluntary layoffs to "a small number of its employees," said company spokeswoman Elizabeth "Bette" Kovach. She would not give a specific number of layoffs but said the company is still accepting volunteers. Russian steelmaker Severstal, which bought Sparrows Point in 2008, has been looking for ways to cut costs as its U.S. operations have dragged down earnings. The union that represents 2,500 employees at the plant received a draft proposal in the fall from Severstal detailing a restructuring that could impact as many as one-third of the jobs at the plant.

A Lanham-based company warned state regulators Monday that it could lay off more than 100 employees if a federal contract isn't renewed this spring. But officials at Science Systems and Applications Inc. emphasized that even if the company doesn't come out on top in the contract competition, employees could end up doing the same work for the winning firm. "More than likely, whoever wins the contract is going to be picking up the staff," said Anoop Mehta, chief financial officer at SSAI.

An airport food company warned state regulators Thursday that it is laying off 112 employees as it hands off the management of restaurants and bars at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport to another firm — which could decide to hire all the same workers. SSP America said the switchover began in early January and would be complete by the end of March, according to its notice to the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. BWI spokesman Jonathan Dean said SSP had a sublease with concessions developer AIRMALL USA to operate six restaurants and bars but decided to leave.