{"id":406575,"date":"2026-09-21T21:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T21:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/406575\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T21:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T21:44:09","slug":"hurt-and-blindsided-laid-off-jta-employee-says-employees-were-given-severance-packets-escorted-out-of-headquarters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/406575\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Hurt and blindsided\u2019: Laid-off JTA employee says employees were given severance packets, escorted out of headquarters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 The Jacksonville Transportation Authority is cutting hundreds of jobs to close a $39 million budget gap, and some of those employees say the impact was immediate and unexpected.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">News4JAX spoke with one laid-off JTA employee who said workers were blindsided by the cuts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">\u201cEmployees are feeling very hurt and blindsided,\u201d the employee said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">RELATED | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/news\/local\/2026\/09\/17\/jta-to-cut-39-million-from-fy-2027-budget-suspend-skyway-service-in-november\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/news\/local\/2026\/09\/17\/jta-to-cut-39-million-from-fy-2027-budget-suspend-skyway-service-in-november\/\">JTA planning additional layoffs as it works to cut $39 million from FY 2027 budget, suspend Skyway service in November<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">The employee, who asked not to be identified, said Friday was their last day. They said colleagues were called to the boardroom, handed a severance packet, and told their health insurance would expire at the end of the month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">\u201cThey were just called up to the boardroom and handed a packet. And they were taking their IDs,\u201d the employee said.<\/p>\n<p>More than 150 positions eliminated<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">News4JAX obtained a list of more than 150 employees whose positions are being eliminated as part of JTA\u2019s restructuring.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">Employees who worked with JTA\u2019s Skyway Line are also on the list. News4JAX witnessed the Skyway operating in downtown Jacksonville on Monday. Workers who oversaw JTA\u2019s Navi system are included as well. JTA says Navi will make its last run at the end of this year.<\/p>\n<p>Employees escorted out of the building<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">After receiving the severance packet, laid-off workers were escorted out of JTA headquarters, the employee told News4JAX.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">\u201cYou have to make an appointment when they try to get all your personal stuff. And they\u2019ll escort you in so you get your personal belongings and then they escort you out the building. And you\u2019re done,\u201d the employee said. <\/p>\n<p>JTA defends severance agreement terms<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">JTA\u2019s severance agreement asks laid-off employees to give up certain legal claims against the agency and comply with confidentiality and non-disparagement restrictions in exchange for severance pay. The agreement also warns that violating those terms could put an employee\u2019s severance benefits at risk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">When News4JAX asked JTA about the language, the agency clarified that the document is not a non-disclosure agreement. JTA called it a separation agreement that includes standard confidentiality language regarding financial terms, and said it is structured in accordance with state and federal laws.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 The Jacksonville Transportation Authority is cutting hundreds of jobs to close a $39 million budget&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,799],"class_list":["post-406575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}