The National Post reports in its Wednesday edition that scores of Tim Hortons head-office employees were laid off on Tuesday, the expected fallout from the coffee chain's merger with Burger King last month. The Post's Hollie Shaw writes the layoffs were expected to affect hundreds of employees. The job cuts occurred at the headquarters and at all of the Tim Hortons offices in Canada and one in the United States. Tim Hortons was staffed by 1,400 employees across seven regional offices prior to the $12.5-billion deal struck last August to create the world's third-largest restaurant chain, Restaurant Brands International. The atmosphere has been tense at company headquarters since executives formerly affiliated with Burger King and its majority shareholder, Brazilian private-equity firm 3G Capital, began moving into the corporate offices last month. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives had warned that 3G Capital's debt financing could result in the layoffs of more than 700 employees, or about 44 per cent of its non-restaurant staff. Onlookers outside the Oakville headquarters described a scene with higher-than-usual security as employees exited the building holding envelopes and boxes of possessions.