Richard Panick said, "We do regularly evaluate our office space and all leases and in this case we decided to take advantage of currently unused space at one of our Fresno locations."
IRS Spokesman Richard Panick says right now there are no plans to lay off any of the 180 employees in Tulare, but they will be asked to commute to Fresno.
Panick said, "All of those employees who are currently working at the Tulare office will be re-deployed to the Fresno location."
Action News spoke to the Chapter 97 National Treasury Employees Union, which represents the Tulare IRS employees. Union President Jason Sisk says nearly half of the data transcribers, who work in Tulare, will be unable to commute to Fresno and will likely lose their jobs. Sisk said some of the employees have worked there since the IRS facility opened in Tulare 25 years ago. Tulare city officials hope the loss of jobs won't negatively impact the area.
City of Tulare Development Manager Traci Myers said, "We are very disappointed obviously when any major company leaves the city of Tulare we're a great place to do business so I have to say we're very disappointed."
City officials are encouraging the employees who won't be able to keep their jobs, to contact the workforce investment board which is prepared to help them find new work.
The Tulare IRS office will close in October. This is not a public walk-in facility so the IRS says services won't be affected.
