MontCo drug maker will lay off workers

    A local Tylenol manufacturer will slash about three-fourths of the workforce at its Montgomery County plant after a series of recalls that removed children’s medicines from shelves nationwide.

    A local Tylenol manufacturer will slash about three-fourths of the workforce at its Montgomery County plant after a series of recalls that removed children’s medicines from shelves nationwide.

    McNeil Consumer Healthcare will cut 300 jobs.

    Wendy Klinghoffer leads the Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce. She says Whitemarsh Township will sorely miss some of the income taxes it collects from McNeil workers.

    Klinghoffer:
    Usually they collect about 1 percent. You multiply that by 300 times, it’s not going to help matters, municipalities are already really feeling the pinch a great deal.

    • WHYY thanks our sponsors — become a WHYY sponsor

    The township can’t say how much revenue it might lose, but finance officials have asked McNeil for demographic and wage information on the laid-off workers.

    Tom Mullin is finance director for Whitemarsh.

    Mullin: Earned income tax is levied on the employees working within Whitemarsh Township. But if they have an obligation to pay it to their home municipality, that earned income tax does not come to Whitemarsh Township. I have no idea how we are impacted in that sense.

    In addition to income taxes, the plant also generates real estate and emergency services money for Whitemarsh.

    McNeil suspended operations after a moldy odor was linked to some of its children’s medicines. The company recalled a string of formulas including the Tylenol, Benadryl and Zyrtec brands.

    McNeil says it will continue to pay workers a regular salary through mid-September and offer severance packages after that.

    WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.

    Want a digest of WHYY’s programs, events & stories? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

    Together we can reach 100% of WHYY’s fiscal year goal