Second buyout offer: NORCE facility sheds clients

ENID, Okla. NORCE employees have received a second buyout offer, just one month after the first 27 voluntarily left their jobs on mutually agreeable terms at the state facility.

Administrators met with workers Wednesday at Northern Oklahoma Resource Center of Enid to give them a chance to leave state employment before their jobs are eliminated. NORCE is expected to close by August 2015.

This time around, the offer is the same. Up to 30 employees will be given a chance to resign and receive several benefits. Like the first buyout, the first 30 who volunteer for it can leave and receive the following:

Payment equal to their current health insurance premium for 18 months. This applies to the employee only.

A longevity payment that would have been paid on their next anniversary.

One week of pay for each year employed with a minimum of $5,000 and, at most, $26,000.

A payout of accumulated sick leave equal to one-half of the employees hourly wage.

Shut-down slowdown

Since a state oversight panel voted to shut down NORCE more than a year ago, the number of residents there has rapidly diminished. Parents and guardians now are forced to make plans for community-based care, which often has several developmentally disabled people living together or living with family. This model relies on private health care providers to take over daily nursing and care in place of state-paid workers.

The number of residents at the state-run facility has fallen by half in six months. According to data provided by the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, there were 92 residents at NORCE in July.

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Second buyout offer: NORCE facility sheds clients