Sprint PCS closing down Lawrence operations

Sprint PCS Center is moving out of Lawrence and will close down operations, putting more than 500 employees out of their existing jobs.

Sprint officials have given written notice to Lawrence Mayor Mike Rundle that operations at the Lawrence Sprint PCS Customer Service Center will be discontinued on May 31.

Sprint officials planned to meet with employees who work at the Lawrence center at 2 p.m. Friday. They also planned to make a public announcement by 5 p.m.

The letter sent to Rundle is as follows,

“Dear Mayor Rundle:

In acccordance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, we are hereby notifying you that Sprint indends to permanently close the PCS Customer Solutions Center located at 1 Riverfront Plaza, Suite 101, Lawrence, KS 66044. Operations will be discontinued on May 31, 2002, and most employee separations are expected to occur on that date. Employees will be notified of this action by letter.

The job titles of positions to be affected, and the number of affected employees in each job classification:

JOB TITLES AND NUMBERS OF EMPLOYEES

Administrative Assistant (3)
Associate Reporting Analyst (1)
Coordinator, HR (1)
Coordinator, Project (3)
Customer Assist Advocate (323)
Director, Customer Care (1)
Educational Consultant I (2)
Educational Consultant II (4)
Educational Consultant III (1)
ER/Staffing Specialist (1)
Manager, Education/Development (1)
Manager, Facilities (1)
Manager I, Customer Care (5)
Specialist, Customer Retention (94)
Sr. Exec Administrative Assistant (1)
Supervisor, Telecommunications (1)
Team Advisor (17)
Team Leader (31)
Tech II – SA (1)
Training Specialist I (6)
WFM Rep. I (6)
WFM Rep. II (5)

The center does not have an applicable bumping procedure. However, employees will be able to post for jobs at other Sprint facilities.

Sincerely,

Chris Thompson
HR manager”

(Chad Lawhorn, Journal-World reporter, provided information for this story.)

  • For more information, tune in to 6News at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Sunflower Broadband’s Channel 6 or on Headline News Lawrence Edition on Channel 16 at :54 past the hour.
  • You can also find further updates by picking up a copy of tomorrow’s Journal-World.