LIVINGSTON, N.J. - Weeks after completing its acquisition of CIT Group Inc., Tyco International Ltd. has dropped CIT's economic research department and laid off its employees, according to several sources familiar with the decision.
Among the three-person staff let go by Tyco was CIT Vice President Michael Paslawskyj, the group's director of economic research. Paslawskyj headed work on CIT's annual plastics industry outlook, the latest of which was released in mid-June. CIT had published that industry forecast for 11 years.
Tyco officials were unavailable to confirm closure of the research department, said spokeswoman Maryanne Kane of the Hamilton, Bermuda-based company. Paslawskyj also was unavailable for comment.
Kane did confirm that on June 20, Tyco laid off more than 100 people at CIT's Livingston headquarters, although she did not know whether the research department had been affected. The workers laid off primarily were administrative employees who performed similar functions to those already done by Tyco, Kane said.
Other sources said the decision to discard the economic-research team was part of that layoff. CIT still has about 1,500 workers in Livingston, Kane said.
``It was expected that redundant corporate operations would go,'' said Chicago-based equity analyst Brian Langenberg of First Union Securities.
Tyco announced the purchase of CIT in March. CIT is a commercial finance and leasing company that works heavily in the plastics industry.
