DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Mich. – Several Dearborn Heights city employees were suddenly laid off on Friday morning (Dec. 26).
Impacted employees say they were told it was because the city is cutting costs.
The employees received a call from the city’s human resources department saying their employment would be up on Dec. 31.
Soon after, they got an email saying the same thing and that the decision was not a reflection of their job performance.
One employee who lost their job tells Local 4 the move comes after they received a letter on Nov. 19th from the mayor asking all department heads, directors, and appointees to submit a resignation letter by Dec. 31.
“Please apply to be re-appointed to your positions for your appointments to be effective the very start of the day on January 1, 2026,” the letter also said.
All applications were to go through the city’s new “transformation” website portal.
The city followed up multiple times with those who did not submit those letters.
One employee anonymously says some of the laid-off employees were part-time, while others were full-time.
“There was a lack of communication on the inside, nobody in the departments that these were affecting knew ahead of time, most of them at least,” the employee said. “I feel pretty horrible and like I didn’t really matter to the city.”
Local 4 reached out to the city multiple times for comment.
The city said it was not able to provide any update or statement.