BUSINESS

Sitel to cut 278 jobs in Painted Post

Staff report

Sitel, a call center in Painted Post, has filed a notice with the New York State Labor Department that it will cut 278 jobs.

The jobs will be cut by April 30, according to the WARN notice filed with the Labor Department.

The reason given for the cuts is "departure of a client campaign."

Sitel says it currently has 500 employees at its Canada Road office in Painted Post.

Sitel provides customer service and support for other companies, answering calls and providing live chat on customer websites. Sitel began operations in 2008 in the former Corning Inc. photonics testing center on Canada Road.

It has experienced large fluctuations in workforce there in the past, laying off 300 workers due to loss of a customer in late 2010 and hiring 300 workers in fall 2012 for customer service by telephone and live Internet chats to help customers make purchases off websites of Sitel clients.

The website glassdoor.com currently lists job openings for Sitel in Painted Post, such as customer service representative positions that pay $8.50 an hour with scheduled raises, and benefits if the jobs are full time. It's not known if those positions are separate from the campaign that is ending.

Further information was not immediately available on the upcoming cutbacks, such as if the client campaign ended early, or was expected to terminate at that time. No information was available on the client or type of business and Sitel has traditionally not released that type of information.

Telephone calls to the Painted Post plant went unanswered today. Voicemail was left with the public relations department at Sitel's Nashville, Tenn., headquarters.

Sitel on its website says it has 58,000 workers in 23 countries , including 21 locations in North America.