CVS Health will lay off about 1,000 workers assigned to Rhode Island and Connecticut offices, according to notices filed with labor officials in both states. The job cuts are part of a previously disclosed layoff that will eliminate 5,000 jobs company-wide.
CVS, based in Woonsocket, R.I., said the layoffs include remote workers who live elsewhere but report to the company’s locations in Woonsocket and Cumberland, R.I. and Hartford, where the Aetna health insurance unit is headquartered. About 200 of the employees assigned to Rhode Island facilities live in the state, the company said in its notice under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification law, or WARN. It was not clear how many of laid-off employees live in Massachusetts.
About 300 of the job cuts in the Hartford offices are held by Connecticut residents, according to the WARN notice.
The WARN notices were posted on the websites of Providence Business News and USA Today. They indicate the layoffs will begin Oct. 21.
“Our industry is evolving to adapt to new consumer health needs and expectations. As part of an enterprise initiative to reprioritize our investments around care delivery and technology, we must take difficult steps to reduce expenses,” the company said in statement. “The difficult decision we are making will set the company up for long-term success.”
When CVS first disclosed the mass layoffs earlier this month, a company spokesman said job cuts would primarily affect corporate workers rather than customer-facing roles in pharmacies, clinics and store. CVS operates more than 9,000 stores and 1,100 walk-in clinics nationwide.
CVS Health employed more than 300,000 workers as of the end of 2022, primarily in the US. The company, with about 8,600 employees in Rhode Island, is the state’s third-largest employer.
CVS acquired Aetna in 2018 in a $69 billion deal. At that time, CVS agreed to maintain Aetna’s 5,300 employees in Connecticut for at least four years. That agreement ended on Oct. 1, 2022, according to the Hartford Courant.
This story has been updated to include a statement from CVS Health.
Rob Gavin can be reached at rob.gavin@globe.com.