The New Hyde Park branch of Bridgehampton National Bank will close on Feb. 16.
The branch is one of six that Bridge Bancorp, BNB’s parent company, will close early in 2018.
President and CEO Kevin O’Connor told Newsday that employees from the closed branches will be given priority for jobs throughout the company.
But Saveeta Ramprashad, former vice president and branch manager in New Hyde Park, said O’Connor’s claim is “completely not true.”
Ramprashad said she was not offered any such position and the company “dropped branch managers like hot potatoes.”
Ramprashad is also the secretary of the New Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce and serves on several chamber committees.
“Even though I may have been grounded in New Hyde Park, Kevin did not even consider that,” Ramprashad said.
According to an October company news release, Bridge Bancorp had net income of $9.4 million for the third quarter, half a million more than the $8.9 million in 2016.
O’Connor attributes the success to the company’s “investments in people and brand awareness,” and said Bridge plans to expand into “new and promising markets.”
The newest branch in Astoria, Queens, opened in September.
“Following an assessment of our branch network to ensure we are covering our markets efficiently, we have identified a number of branches that we plan to either close or consolidate into nearby locations,” O’Connor said in the release. “As a result, we expect to take a pre-tax charge in the 2017 fourth quarter related to exiting lease obligations, employee severance, and other related charges of no more than $6.6 million.”
Bridgehampton National Bank declined to comment.
