About 300 Maryland employees facing layoffs when the Rosewood Center for the developmentally disabled closes are urging government officials to save their jobs by opening state-run community homes.

Employees of the state-run Owings Mills facility received letters this week notifying them of layoffs that will start in January and last through June, when the center will close. Many workers have spent their entire careers caring for Rosewood residents, said union leaders who called the layoffs “premature.”