Quest Diagnostics is closing Norristown lab, laying off 121 workers starting next month
The work is being moved to Kansas.
Quest Diagnostics Inc. is closing a laboratory unit in Norristown and moving the work to Kansas. The move will result in 121 layoffs starting in August, according to a notice to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor.
The Norristown lab at 400 Egypt Rd. does workforce drug testing on urine specimens. The work will be consolidated at a full-service lab in Lenexa, Kan., which also tests hair and oral fluid specimens, Quest said in an email Tuesday.
“The consolidation will enable us to concentrate innovation and automation at a single laboratory site and better meet the evolving needs of employers, many of which are increasingly seeking the convenience of oral fluid and hair specimen testing over urine as part of their employee drug screening programs,” Quest said.
Quest’s Norristown location will continue to employ an unspecified number of people in a rapid response laboratory, pathology testing, and information technology.
Quest is based in Secaucus, N.J.