Almost 200 Layoffs Announced At Morris Co. Pharmaceutical, Health Care Companies

PARSIPPANY, NJ — A Parsippany-based producer of medicines, hygiene products, and baby formula will soon begin layoffs that will affect 100 employees, according to state Department of Labor records.

The cuts at Reckitt Benckiser (which is the parent company of brands including Mucinex, Enfamil, Clearasil, and Lysol) will begin on June 17 and continue until Aug. 21, according to records. The company has its U.S. headquarters along Interpace Parkway, and has not yet replied to Patch's request for comment.

Two other Morris County pharmaceutical companies have also filed Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Notices, announcing layoffs which will affect close to another 100 people.

Bayer's office in Whippany intends to lay off 35 people, while the Novartis Group in East Hanover announced it would cut 61 jobs.

Swiss drugmaker Novartis has already laid off 103 employees from its U.S. headquarters at 1 Health Plaza in East Hanover.

WARN Notices are required by federal law when businesses with 100 or more full-time workers lay off at least 50 people from a single worksite. They are designed to give workers and their families, as well as the local communities, more advanced notice.

The listings don't include the percentage of workers that each company cut, nor do they contain information on whether the businesses enacted smaller job cuts elsewhere in the state.

The layoffs at these three companies follow hundreds more local job cuts in the pharmaceutical sector, as Patch has reported previously.

Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, in Flanders, has instituted cuts for more than half of their workforce in the past 12 months: 300 announced in 2023, and 162 announced this March. The business also has operations in Iselin and Princeton, which have not been affected.

Ferring Pharmaceuticals, another pharmaceutical company in Parsippany, also announced plans to lay off 70 workers by March 2024.

Here are more details about the newly-posted layoffs from the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development:

• Reckitt Benckiser, Mead Johnson, and RB Health, in Parsippany: 100 layoffs, announced in May. Occurring in stages, from June 17 through Aug. 21.
• Bayer, in Whippany: 35 layoffs, announced in May. Occurring Aug. 29.
• Novartis Group, in East Hanover: 61 layoffs, announced in May. Occurring in stages, from Sept. 6 through Nov. 22.