Citing the loss of a major contract with the state, Magellan Health will lay off 80 workers in Baton Rouge, but the effect on the firm’s nearly 30,000-square-foot care management center at Perkins Rowe remains unclear.
A company spokeswoman declines to comment on whether Magellan intends to continue leasing the space after the 80 workers are let go beginning Nov. 30.
“Magellan will maintain a presence in the state to support other business,” says Colleen Flanagan Johnson, vice president of external relations, who declined to add any further comment on the layoffs or whether any Magellan workers will remain in Baton Rouge. The company also has offices in Shreveport.
Scott Macdonald, who handles office leasing at Perkins Rowe for its property manager, Stirling Properties, says he has not heard anything from Magellan on its plans for the Baton Rouge office. Magellan’s lease runs through mid-2017, he says.
“As of right now we have not received any notification from them,” Macdonald says. “If they do vacate, we don’t have anyone to backfill that space at the moment, but the market for Class A office space is pretty strong right now and hopefully we could get someone in there quickly. Perkins Rowe is 100% occupied at the moment, and I know there are tenants out there searching for office space that’s currently unavailable.”
Magellan informed state officials of its plan to lay off the 80 workers Tuesday afternoon, saying in a letter to the Louisiana Workforce Commission that the layoffs are expected to be permanent.
Last November, Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration announced the state would not renew a contract with the Scottsdale, Arizona-based firm to coordinate mental health and addictive disorder services for Medicaid patients. Magellan was originally awarded a $357.6 million state contract in September 2011. Rather than renew the contract, the state is instead contracting with five private insurance companies to manage the medical care of more than 920,000 Medicaid patients beginning Dec. 1—a day after the Magellan layoffs are set to begin.
In the letter to the LWC, Magellan says separation dates will begin on Nov. 30 and will continue on Dec. 31, Jan. 29 and Feb. 28. Johnson also declined to elaborate on how many employees will be laid off on those respective dates. According to a listing of positions affected by the layoffs provided to LWC, the Magellan layoffs will include everyone from its vice president and chief operations officer to its medical director, care workers and care managers.
—Steve Sanoski
