Nearly 300 people are set to be laid off from a Connecticut personal care brand company and the company says it also will close a plant here.
Edgewell Personal Care Company, which says it was formed in 2015, has “a portfolio of products” in the personal care line, including Schick, Wilkinson Sword, Personna, Edge, Skintimate, Billie, Gentle Glide, Carefree, Stayfree, Banana Boat, Hawaiian Tropic, and others, will close its Schick plant, located at 10 Leighton Road, Milford, documents show.
Plant Director Jeff Wilson informed the state Department of Labor of the closure and the loss of 293 jobs.
The Edgewell news comes as a series of layoffs have been announced in Connecticut; another of the latest notices of worker adjustment noting an estimated 51 people will be let go from a titanium solids operation, records show.
ELG Utica Alloys (Hartford), Inc. notified the rapid response coordinator for Connecticut Department of Labor Rapid Response that it will discontinue its solids processing operations effective December 31, 2025, records show.
Layoffs across Connecticut this year have varied in size; among the largest was a Trumbull nursing home, which notified the state of the layoff of nearly 180 employees, a decision that followed plans to close the facility in early August.
Another that impacted more than 100 people is the 106 workers connected to the Macy’s Supply Chain Backstage Operation at South Windsor to be laid off, according to Macy’s.
Macy’s said in a letter to the state of Connecticut Labor Department and South Windsor Mayor Audrey Delnicki that the layoffs are a result of a “plant closing of an operating unit,” that will occur at the Macy’s South Windsor Distribution Center, located at 301 Governors Hwy.
The Edgewell letter to the state came the same day Edgewell reported publicly that its fourth quarter net sales were “$537.2 million, an increase of 3.8% compared to the prior year quarter” and that “full year net sales were $2,223.5 million, a decrease of 1.3% compared to the prior year.”
The company also reported that its “organic net sales increased 2.5% for the quarter and decreased 1.3% for the full year. (Organic basis excludes the impact from currency movements.); GAAP Diluted net (Loss) Earnings Per Share (“EPS”) were $(0.66) for the quarter and $0.53 for the fiscal year; Adjusted EPS were $0.68 for the quarter, and $2.52 for the fiscal year, inclusive of an $0.48 unfavorable impact from currency movements for the full fiscal year”, that it ended “the fourth quarter with $225.7 million in cash on hand, access to an additional $279.5 million under the Company’s U.S. revolving credit facility available and a net debt leverage ratio of 3.9x; the Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $0.15 per common stock on November 13, 2025 for the fourth quarter” and also issued a new share repurchase authorization for up to $100 million” on Nov. 13, and returned “$119.5 million to shareholders in the form of $90.2 million in share repurchases and $29.3 million of dividends in the fiscal year.”
Separately it noted the company “reached a definitive agreement to sell its Feminine Care business to Essity, a leading global health and hygiene company based in Sweden, for $340 million.”
“In fiscal 2026, the Company is taking specific actions to strengthen its operating model, simplify the organization and improve manufacturing and supply chain efficiency through restructuring and repositioning actions, including the further consolidation of Wet Shave operations,” the company wrote. “As a result of these actions, the Company expects to incur pre-tax charges of approximately $49 million for the full fiscal year, of which approximately $19 million of the charges are expected to be in the first quarter.”
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Amid the financial news, the Milford plant will be closed no later than Dec. 31, 2027, but jobs will begin to be eliminated in March 2026, according to Wilson’s letter to the state..
“There is no union representing affected employees,” Wilson told the state Rapid Response Unit, so workers will not be able to displace more junior employees out of their job positions as a result of this plant closure, according to Wilson. “There will not be any bumping rights for the affected employees,” he wrote. He did not name the specific positions in the letter to the labor department.
An email seeking comment was sent to the company. An email seeking comment also was sent to Milford Mayor Anthony S. Giannattasio.
Companies operating in Connecticut must file what is call a WARN notice with the state as the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires employers with 100 or more full-time workers to “give 60 days’ advance notice of a plant closing or mass layoff.”
“Employers are affected if, during a 30-day period, they: close a facility or discontinue an operating unit and 50 or more full-time workers suffer an employment loss; or have a reduction in force that results in an employment loss for 50-499 full-time workers (and these workers comprise at least 33% of the total workforce at a single site of employment); or have a reduction in force that results in an “employment loss” for 500 or more full-time workers at a single site of employment,” according to the Labor Department.
Wilson wrote that the expected date of the first employee separations from Edgewell is between March 2 and March 16, 2026, and “all affected employees will be notified at least 60 days prior to their individual separation.” They will be eligible to receive severance benefits and will be offered “outplacement assistance, to help them transition successfully to other employment” when their Edgewell employment ends, he wrote.
Among other recent layoff announcements was CVS Health, which notified the state it is laying off dozens of employees that report to the Hartford headquarters of its Aetna health insurance business, a round of job cuts touched off by the loss of a contract involving government health care programs for seniors.
ImageFIRST Healthcare Laundry Specialists, LLC of Farmington and Pennsylvania, also recently notified the state Department of Labor and the town council chairman of cuts as required by law under the federal WARN Act, which requires employers to give 60 days notice of mass layoffs.
Last month, an international biotechnology company that is headquartered in Connecticut said it is laying off 68 employees in the state. PerkinElmer U.S. LLC said it is permanently closing its manufacturing facility at 710 Bridgeport Ave., Shelton, and laying off the employees that work there, the company said in a notice to the Connecticut Department of Labor.
The first phase of that closure will take place Nov. 24 and employees to be laid off on that date have already been notified. Future employees will be notified at least 60 days in advance of their termination, according to the notice.
Edgewell says, “Schick and Wilkinson Sword merged in 1992 to create a global leader in shaving, and then merged with Playtex and their family of brands, including Banana Boat and Wet Ones in 2007. This created a family of powerful, household-name brands with a legacy of innovation and a mission of category reinvention.”