THE FOLLOW UP
STATEMENT

The U.S. Department of Labor awarded $551,195 to Massachusetts to support employment and training services for workers affected by layoffs at The L.S. Starrett Co.

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funding

Record of a $551,195 award from the U.S. Department of Labor to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for employment and training services for workers affected by layoffs at The L.S. Starrett Co. exists.

Source summary
The U.S. Department of Labor awarded $551,195 to Massachusetts to help workers laid off by The L.S. Starrett Co., which cut 78 manufacturing jobs in Athol on June 30, 2025. The Employment and Training Administration is funding a National Dislocated Worker Grant to enable the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development to provide retraining and skills services to dislocated workers in Franklin and Worcester counties under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.
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Latest fact check

The claim is that the U.S. Department of Labor awarded $551,195 to Massachusetts to support employment and training services for workers affected by layoffs at The L.S. Starrett Co.

An official U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration news release dated January 2, 2026, states that the Department "today awarded $551,195 to Massachusetts" for this exact purpose, confirming both the amount and the target population. The release explains that the funding is a National Dislocated Worker Grant administered to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.

The same document links the grant directly to layoffs at The L.S. Starrett Co., noting that on June 30, 2025, the company laid off 78 manufacturing workers in Athol, Massachusetts, disrupting the rural labor market in Franklin and Worcester counties. The grant is described as supporting retraining and skills development services for these dislocated workers under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.

A parallel posting of the announcement on PublicNow reproduces the key details: the $551,195 award amount, Massachusetts as the recipient, and the connection to L.S. Starrett layoffs, with no indication of cancellation or revision. Because the claim concerns the act of awarding the funds and that award is documented by the issuing agency as completed on January 2, 2026, the claim is best assessed as complete.

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Timeline

  1. Update · Jan 06, 2026, 10:09 AMcomplete
    The claim is that the U.S. Department of Labor awarded $551,195 to Massachusetts to support employment and training services for workers affected by layoffs at The L.S. Starrett Co. An official U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration news release dated January 2, 2026, states that the Department "today awarded $551,195 to Massachusetts" for this exact purpose, confirming both the amount and the target population. The release explains that the funding is a National Dislocated Worker Grant administered to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. The same document links the grant directly to layoffs at The L.S. Starrett Co., noting that on June 30, 2025, the company laid off 78 manufacturing workers in Athol, Massachusetts, disrupting the rural labor market in Franklin and Worcester counties. The grant is described as supporting retraining and skills development services for these dislocated workers under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. A parallel posting of the announcement on PublicNow reproduces the key details: the $551,195 award amount, Massachusetts as the recipient, and the connection to L.S. Starrett layoffs, with no indication of cancellation or revision. Because the claim concerns the act of awarding the funds and that award is documented by the issuing agency as completed on January 2, 2026, the claim is best assessed as complete.
  2. Scheduled follow-up · Jan 05, 2026
  3. Completion due · Jan 05, 2026
  4. Update · Jan 03, 2026, 04:09 AMTech Error
    The primary evidence for this claim appears to be an official U.S. Department of Labor news release dated Jan. 2, 2026, titled "US Department of Labor awards over $550K to help workers affected by layoffs at northern Massachusetts tool manufacturer," which is hosted on dol.gov and whose search snippet states that $551,195 was awarded to Massachusetts to support employment and training services for workers affected by layoffs at The L.S. Starrett Co. However, due to technical issues, I was unable to directly fetch and render the full text of the underlying documents or mirrored versions on PublicNow, which prevents a complete verification beyond the search-result snippets. Because of this access problem to the primary source content, I cannot definitively confirm the full context and exact wording of the claim at this time. The verdict is therefore marked as Tech Error because verification depends on sources that are currently timing out or not fully loading, despite strong indications from search snippets that the claim is accurate.
  5. Original article · Jan 02, 2026
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