Davis Vision to lay off 151 workers, close Plainview facility
Davis Vision's Plainview facility is slated to close May 21, 2017. It began laying off workers on Monday, May 9, 2017. Credit: Google Maps
A Plainview facility that develops and manufactures eyeglass lenses began laying off workers on Monday and plans to close later this month, according to its parent company and a state regulatory filing.
Davis Vision has been operating here for more than 30 years and employs 151 workers, Aaron Billger, a spokesman for San Antonio-based HVHC Inc., said Tuesday. It acquired Davis in 1996.
The jobs are being eliminated, he said, so the workers aren’t being offered employment at other HVHC locations. They will instead be offered severance packages based on years of service. Billger said he didn’t know the specifics.
The union representing some of the workers, United Service Workers Union/International Union of Journeymen and Allied Trades Local 947, is trying to negotiate “additional terms,” said its president, Gloria Larrondo. She said the matter is “pending.”
Davis’s state filing carries Monday’s date, and Billger said it was “effective immediately.” The notice was posted on the state Labor Department’s website on Tuesday. The facility is slated to close May 21.
The window between the filing and the layoffs falls well short of the requirement under the state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. That statute requires companies with at least 50 full-time employees to file a 90-day notice of a mass layoff or closing.
To avoid violations, companies can opt to pay employees for the days their notification falls short. When asked about the shortfall, Billger said, “We’re going to follow the regulations.”
He said deciding to close was a “difficult decision” but was made “in the interest of the customers that we serve to provide them with timely and accurate eyewear in a highly competitive environment.”
Davis Vision started in New York City in 1917. It continues to operate as a division of HVHC. Its headquarters moved from Plainview to San Antonio in 2011.
HVHC, which also operates a health care provider network and retail eyewear locations, has manufacturing plants in Syracuse, Pennsylvania and Texas, Billger said.
