FirstMerit Bank Files Notice with State to Layoff 135 Employees at Downtown Flint Office

FirstMerit Bank is expected to layoff 135 employees at its downtown Flint location after filing a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice with the Michigan Development Agency.

According to MLive, the layoffs will take place with a 14-day period of October 31, 2013. FirstMerit Bank finalized the purchase of Citizens Bank in April. Numbers before the sale showed 600 employees working at the former headquarters of Citizens Bank in downtown Flint.

Flint Mayor Dayne Walling released a statement regrading the news of layoffs: "Everyone expected employment changes with the acquisition and overall the new bank has done a good job of getting connected to our community. It is hard to see these jobs leave Flint but downtown continues to grow and diversify and we will more than make up for these jobs with future projects."