MIDDLEBURY — Syndicate Systems laid off an undisclosed number of workers last week, but it’s not an unusual move, according to a spokeswoman for Syndicate’s parent company.

“We did have a layoff there last week,” said Valeri Glaze with human resources at Leggett & Platt, the Missouri-based company that owns Syndicate.

Syndicate mainly builds shelving and displays for retail companies, which typically focus on Christmas sales during the last part of the year. “It is not unusual for Syndicate’s customers to change their focus during the fourth quarter, so layoffs at that facility during the fourth quarter is not unusual,” Glaze said. “We hope and we anticipate that we will begin recalling people after the first of the year. That also is typical.”

Syndicate’s Middlebury facility has about 500 employees, Glaze said. The company won’t reveal how many people were laid off, but “the size of the layoff is not unusual,” Glaze said.

The event is regular enought that it didn’t even reach town leaders. “I haven’t heard anything about it at all. I haven’t heard any rumors,” said Mark Salee, Middlebury town manager, this week.

Sam Pohl of the Middlebury Chamber of Commerce also hadn’t heard about the layoffs from the company or employees, but said, “it’s always regrettable when somebody gets laid off, but if it’s something that you know as an employee, you learn to plan for it.”