Is Blogging Supposed to Make You Sad?
Well, this is depressing.
The San Francisco Chronicle’s Web site has just put up a nifty little workday distraction/paranoia tool: You can search which California companies have recently reported massive layoffs to the state, and how many employees were supposedly affected.
We only found one law firm (Heller) on there — and it puts a hard number on the human impact that firm’s dissolution is having in San Francisco, L.A., Menlo Park and San Diego: 682 employees.
(We might, in fact, be underselling the impact, because we’re not sure if that number includes partners, who we're guessing might not be considered “employees.” The state's WARN provisions don't shed much light on that scenario, and unfortunately, the state's Employment Development Department tells us that Heller didn't happen to break its stats down by job title, which is optional.)
If you want to search for other companies that have laid people off, recently or not so recently, you can check out the state’s more complete database going back almost six years here. We took a quick look at Brobeck in 2003 (.pdf), the year it dissolved: 815 employees, in five cities. Skjerven Morrill, the same year: 116, in two cities.
— Pam Smith
Why would Heller bother to report to the state under the WARN Act if the firm did not intend to comply with the meaningful obligations (like observing the 60-day notice period or severance in lieu)? Also, Heller should notify the state that the layoff date is incorrect -- the reported date is 11/28, which is the date that complies with WARN's 60-day notice provision, while most employees were actually laid off on 10/10 and 10/17.
Posted by: A few observations | November 16, 2008 at 07:53 PM
you want to be depressed, read
http://endofesq.com/?p=542
Posted by: caretaker | November 18, 2008 at 07:45 PM