Employees of the Affordable Care corporate office, pictured here Sunday afternoon, will no longer report to this office on Monday. The corporate office closed Friday, although Affordable Dentures & Implants, which is in the same building, will still be open to customers. Photo by Linda Whittington / Neuse News

By Bryan Hanks

More than two dozen employees of a local dental company worked their final day in Kinston Friday.

Affordable Care, LLC closed the doors of its Kinston operation Friday.

“After careful and thoughtful consideration, effective (Friday), Affordable Care is moving our corporate functions currently located in Kinston, N.C., to our main corporate office, the Affordable Care Support Center, in Morrisville, N.C.,” according to a company statement provided by communications director Kathie Woehrmann.

While Affordable Care is leaving Kinston, the local Affordable Dentures & Implants office will remain open to serve its customers. Affordable Care is the dental support organization for Affordable Dentures & Implants, providing, according to the statement, “business expertise and support services to dental practices, taking care of non-clinical duties so dentists can focus on treating patients.”

From the statement, “Our organization is deeply rooted in Kinston, and we will continue to support our Affordable Dentures & Implants practice that started in Kinston and will remain in Kinston. We are dedicated to ensuring patients in Kinston and surrounding communities have access to high quality dental care.”

According to the statement, the Kinston-based employees were informed last fall of the decision to move the office to Morrisville. One of those employees, who chose to accept a severance package and asked to remain anonymous for this report, said the now-former Kinston employees were expected to train their replacements who will work in the Morrisville office.

In an internal document obtained by Neuse News, 29 employees worked at the local corporate office and of those, 13 of the positions were eliminated.

The internal document revealed the 13 positions eliminated were two accountants, two accounting assistants, two accounting specialists, one executive assistant, two human resources assistants, three senior accountants and one technical support specialist. All of the eliminated positions were offered a severance package.

Of the remaining 16 positions — which include three accounting specialists, three graphic designers and a graphic designing manager, three payroll specialists and a payroll manager, two senior buyers and three other employees — remote positions (working from home) were offered and accepted by 11 individuals. Five others were offered a position in the Research Triangle Park headquarters of Affordable Care; only two accepted the position, while three others opted for a severance package.

For more information about the company, visit its website at affordablecare.com.