MassMutual cuts jobs after announcing unit sale

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. will lay off 82 workers in Enfield after announcing the sale of its retirement plan business, according to a notice filed with the state Department of Labor. 

Although the sale is pending regulatory approval, the employees are slated to be cut between Dec. 21 and Jan. 4, 2021. The workers are not unionized. 

Massachusetts Mutual Life announced the sale of its retirement plan unit to Empower Retirement for $2 billion last month. Empower is based in the Denver area, with its parent’s headquarters in Canada. The deal had been rumored since June, according to the Journal Inquirer. 

MassMutual was Enfield’s top taxpayer as recently as 2018, with a net value of $45.85 million, although it fell to second place in 2019.

The company also notified Enfield Mayor Michael Ludwick of the job cuts. 

The insurer had said that its Connecticut employees would retain their jobs in 2018, when it announced that it would eventually shutter the Enfield campus and consolidate its operations in Springfield. At that time, 1,500 people worked at the 100 Bright Meadow Blvd. complex.

The Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development offered MassMutual tax credits in 2014 when the company said it planned to invest in and grow the Enfield campus.