Elkridge Contracting Jobs in Jeopardy

Northrop Grumman announced Friday that it will be cutting 200 jobs by the end of May, including positions at its Elkridge office (6810 Deerpath Road).

For the most part, the layoffs will occur in four Baltimore-area locations, reported the Baltimore Sun: Linthicum, Sykesville, Elkridge and Annapolis. Other offices that could be affected include Connecticut, Florida and Virginia.

The article stated that job cuts will affect the electronic systems division, which creates things like intelligence and navigation systems that operate everywhere “from undersea to outer space,” according to the division’s website.

On May 17, employees will be notified if their jobs are being eliminated, said the Associated Press, and their last day will be May 31.

The defense contracting company revealed its plans to eliminate 500 positions in early March through an email to employees that was leaked to the media, according to The Capital.

A slowdown in defense spending was the reason for the layoffs, reported the Annapolis-based newspaper.

Though 600 employees were approved for buyouts, “‘there weren’t enough to avoid layoffs,’” a company spokesman told the Associated Press on May 13.

Softening the blow, Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold offered to provide help for those laid off when the cuts were announced in March.

In anticipation of job losses, Leopold increased the county’s budget for workforce development and released a statement that he saw an opportunity to “‘…retrain some of these Northrop Grumman employees to enter a new career,” specifically in the U.S. Cyber Command, which protects the nation's information infrastructure from its headquarters at Fort Meade.