Open hearings began today for 9,500 teachers, librarians, counselors and nurses, who were sent preliminary pink slips by L.A. Unified and may lose their jobs at the end of this school year.

In what has become a dark ritual, the district and teachers now engage in the RIF dance, as some call it: Notices are sent, hearings are held at the cost of millions to the district, some notices are rescinded before the school year ends, and other teachers are hired back as budgets become more clear. By law the district must inform educators of their possible termination by March 15, forcing them to send the preliminary pink slips before state and local budgets can be finalized and their consequences analyzed.

This is the fourth consecutive year of such hearings, the administrative law judge rule on the legality and technical accuracy of the notices on issues such as seniority, credentialing, among others.

About 300 teachers gathered in the cavernous top floor of the California Market Center in downtown Monday amid a sea of roughly 1,700 empty white folding chairs. With their backs to the snow-capped mountains, teachers (who took personal days to attend) listened to the protocols of the next weeks of hearings. Up front at a table to the left sat the district’s attorneys Marcos Hernandez and Aram Kouyoumdjian and to the right the United Teachers Los Angeles attorneys Richard J. Schwab and Lawrence B. Trygstad.

In front of all this, with rows of three-inch binders spread on tables, sat Administrative Law Judge Eric G. Sawyer, listening to the opening statements.

According to UTLA staff, about 3,200 teachers filed requests to testify, and about 300 will be called as witnesses or respondents.

The district attorneys argued in their opening statement that L.A. Unified has followed the law and notified the teachers as required by law. Because of a $390 million budget gap, the district is required to make painful cuts in its 2012 budget plan and send out more than 11,700 notices to educators across L.A. Unified.

“The bottom line, unfortunately, is that we followed the law,” said district attorney Hernandez.

United Teachers Los Angeles attorney Schwab, however, said the district “did not need to go this far, this deep.”

Schwab argued the district didn’t follow the law, which requires it to lay off teachers according to seniority, but instead targeted teachers in subjects such as adult education, the arts or early childhood education — programs that are slated to to be slashed under the budget plan. Schwab said the district is abusing teachers by putting them through the layoff process when it hasn’t worked hard enough to identify other cuts and better allocate money.

“This is done for the mere convenience of the district, and to hedge their bets,” Schwab said. “This should not be a gambling game.”

This story has been updated.

Tami Abdollah can be reached via email and on Twitter (@latams).

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LAUSD,

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Article source: http://www.scpr.org/blogs/education/2012/04/16/5607/l-unified-teacher-layoff-hearings-begin-today/

EA has denied reports of widespread layoffs, after rumors circulated over the weekend that the company was preparing to let go of 500-1,000 positions. Even in its denial, though, EA seems to make room for some amount of job losses as studios and projects shift.

Startup Grind reported that the layoffs would impact 5-11% of the company, and were previously set for last Monday. The report blames lower-than-expected sales of Battlefield 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic for the downsizing.

However, EA has denied the report. “There are no lay-offs as such, we always have projects growing and morphing,” the company said in a statement to MCV. “At any given time there are new people coming in and others leaving. EA is growing and hiring and building teams to support the growing demand for digital games and services.”

The statement seems very carefully worded, including an “as such” statement that could imply planned layoffs won’t be quite as widespread as the report claims. We’ll keep an eye out for more developments and update as information becomes available.

Article source: http://www.shacknews.com/article/73338/ea-denies-massive-layoff-reports

BEIRUT: Labor Minister Salim Jreissati said Monday that the lawyers of PAC, a leading television production company, must consult with his ministry before April 21 on the decision to lay off nearly 400 employees. Jreissati was speaking to a delegation representing the employees who had hired a law firm to represent them and ensure they be paid compensation and salaries. PAC had previously held a session of consultations with the Labor Ministry, during which they produced financial reports, to justify laying off 397 employees and withholding compensation. Jreissati told the delegation that “after April 21, the legal deadline for the end of consultations with PAC, the ministry will prepare its report and show whether the reasons cited by PAC are true.” If the ministry is not convinced by the reasons provided then it will determine the causes behind the sacking, Jreissati added.

Article source: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Apr-17/170424-jreissati-pac-must-consult-ministry-before-layoff.ashx

Open hearings began today for 9,500 teachers, librarians, counselors and nurses, who were sent preliminary pink slips by L.A. Unified and may lose their jobs at the end of this school year.

In what has become a dark ritual, the district and teachers now engage in the RIF dance, as some call it: Notices are sent, hearings are held at the cost of millions to the district, some notices are rescinded before the school year ends, and other teachers are hired back as budgets become more clear. By law the district must inform educators of their possible termination by March 15, forcing them to send the preliminary pink slips before state and local budgets can be finalized and their consequences analyzed.

This is the fourth consecutive year of such hearings, the administrative law judge rule on the legality and technical accuracy of the notices on issues such as seniority, credentialing, among others.

About 300 teachers gathered in the cavernous top floor of the California Market Center in downtown Monday amid a sea of roughly 1,700 empty white folding chairs. With their backs to the snow-capped mountains, teachers (who took personal days to attend) listened to the protocols of the next weeks of hearings. Up front at a table to the left sat the district’s attorneys Marcos Hernandez and Aram Kouyoumdjian and to the right the United Teachers Los Angeles attorneys Richard J. Schwab and Lawrence B. Trygstad.

In front of all this, with rows of three-inch binders spread on tables, sat Administrative Law Judge Eric G. Sawyer, listening to the opening statements.

According to UTLA staff, about 3,200 teachers filed requests to testify, and about 300 will be called as witnesses or respondents.

The district attorneys argued in their opening statement that L.A. Unified has followed the law and notified the teachers as required by law. Because of a $390 million budget gap, the district is required to make painful cuts in its 2012 budget plan and send out more than 11,700 notices to educators across L.A. Unified.

“The bottom line, unfortunately, is that we followed the law,” said district attorney Hernandez.

United Teachers Los Angeles attorney Schwab, however, said the district “did not need to go this far, this deep.”

Schwab argued the district didn’t follow the law, which requires it to lay off teachers according to seniority, but instead targeted teachers in subjects such as adult education, the arts or early childhood education — programs that are slated to to be slashed under the budget plan. Schwab said the district is abusing teachers by putting them through the layoff process when it hasn’t worked hard enough to identify other cuts and better allocate money.

“This is done for the mere convenience of the district, and to hedge their bets,” Schwab said. “This should not be a gambling game.”

This story has been updated.

Tami Abdollah can be reached via email and on Twitter (@latams).

Tagged:

education,

lausd,

LAUSD,

budget

Article source: http://www.scpr.org/blogs/education/2012/04/16/5607/l-unified-teacher-layoff-hearings-begin-today/

Is EA planning to layoff a sizable portion of its global workforce? A recent blog post says yes, while the publisher says no.

Early Sunday morning a report appeared on entrepreneurial blog Startup Grind claiming that gaming giant EA would be laying off somewhere between 500 and 1,000 employees in the immediate future. “I’ve confirmed from multiple sources within Electronic Arts that the company is planning to layoff 500-1,000 people as soon as this week,” the piece reads. “… that represents between 5%-11% of total company employees. The layoffs were originally set for last Monday (4/9), but they were pushed back and we’ve confirmed they’re coming very soon.”

The reasons for these layoffs, the report claims, include the purportedly underwhelming sales of Battlefield 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic, EA’s $1.3 billion acquisition of beloved casual gaming developer PopCap Games and what the blog calls EA CEO John Riccitello’s “acquisition warpath,” among others.

In turn, EA has flatly denied these reports. “There are no lay-offs as such, we always have projects growing and morphing,” the publisher told MCV. “At any given time there are new people coming in and others leaving. EA is growing and hiring and building teams to support the growing demand for digital games and services.”

Undeterred, Startup Grind claims that EA’s statement actually offers subtle hints that the blog’s original report is, in fact, legit. “EA will likely spin any downsizing as not ‘layoff’ but rather some sort of “restructuring” which is effectively the same thing as long as the number of people reaches a certain level,” Startup Grind adds in an update to its original piece. “In their statement this morning they left the window open to make such a move.”

In the end we’re left with a “he said/she said” situation. We won’t officially know EA’s plans until these layoffs either occur or are forgotten with the arrival of the next news cycle, so in the meantime feel free to draw your own conclusions.

Article source: http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/ea-denies-rumored-layoffs-claims-business-as-usual/

EA Set To Layoff +500 Employees?

According to anonymous sources, Electronic Arts is planning to lay off over 500 employees. Nothing has been confirmed yet but this would indeed be bad news for EA employees.

Investors have certainly noticed all the trouble EA is experiencing. This year alone, the company’s shares are down 21.5 percent to $16.18, and over the last five years, its stock has lost 70 percent of its value. Obviously something needs to be done, and unfortunately, the company reportedly believes it’s layoffs.

Comments

Article source: http://hardocp.com/news/2012/04/16/ea_set_to_layoff_500_employees63

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) — Open hearings began Monday for thousands of L.A. Unified School District teachers who are at risk of losing their jobs at the end of the school year.

A judge will decide if the district can layoff the more than 9,500 teachers and other employees who have already received pink slips for the 2012-13 school year.

The judge will determine if district policies — like giving priority based on seniority — were observed in sending out the layoff notices.

This marks the fourth year these hearings have happened.

Teachers and union officials warn that LAUSD’s planned cuts will severely limit teachers’ ability to meet student needs.

They say the layoffs will mean increased class sizes, as well as fewer counselors, nurses and librarians, among other employees.

The LAUSD is currently facing a $390 million budget deficit.

Superintendent John Deasy has said he hopes two-thirds of the jobs can be saved, but that would require furloughs and salary concessions from unions.

The LAUSD board has also voted to put a parcel tax for properties within district boundaries on the Nov. 2012 ballot.

The measure would institute a five-year, $298 parcel tax. It would raise revenue from $200 million to $300 million.

Deasy is urging voters to back the parcel tax, but back in June 2012, a similar measure was defeated.

The layoff hearings are expected to last through June.

Article source: http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-teacher-layoff-hearings,0,243045.story

EA has responded to reports that it’s set to layoff a large percentage of its workforce. According to a rumor originating on Startup Grind, the company is planning to let go between 500 and 1,000 employees this week, which accounts for between 5-11% of total company staff.

Today, EA provided IGN with the following statement:

“EA is growing and looking to hire hundreds of people for our digital, console, mobile and social games. Like all game companies, we make occasional adjustments to resize teams as projects are completed and new priorities are established. Overall, we expect that headcount will be up at the end of this year.”

EA last saw a round of major layoffs in late 2009. This new round of rumored cuts comes in the wake of a report from the NPD Group last week that game sales are down in the United States.

Several high profile companies have seen layoffs in recent weeks, with Sony making deep cuts and SEGA letting go entire departments, following a series of layoffs at THQ.

EA did not provide any additional comment, but we’ll update this story if any new information comes to light.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Article source: http://games.ign.com/articles/122/1223093p1.html?RSSwhen2012-04-16_130500&RSSid=1223093

Adminstrative hearings began Monday for the estimated 9,500 Los Angeles Unified School District employees who received layoff notices as part of the district’s attempt to diminish the $390 million budget deficit.

Recieving the notice does not necessarily mean the employees will most definitely be laid off. Thousands of notices are expected to be rescinded by June, according to Superintendent John Deasy.

“Every layoff notice does not necessarily mean that you don’t have a position, but it also means that the current position you’re in may not exist next year,” LAUSD Chief Human Resources Officer Vivian Ekchian said Monday.

Last year, 7,300 layoff notices were issued by the district, and nearly half were retracted. LAUSD employees hope retractions occur on a larger scale this year so not to inhibit teachers’ ability to meet students’ most basic educational needs.

Classroom sizes and programs will be negatively effected, but the district is making every effort to avoid that by negotiating and directing attention to the state in regards to lack of funding and indecision on their part, Ekchian further elaborated.

The layoff notices were sent to more than 1/4 of United Teachers Los Angeles members and add up to more than half of the total state layoff notices sent this year.

President of the UTLA Warren Fletcher believes the layoffs are more detrimental than the district is forseeing.
 
“It would be a disruption of unprecedented proportions and I don’t think the district could survive,” he said. “I mean…if you slice off 1/4 of a person’s body they still have 3/4 of their body, but they’re still probably going to die.”

“Teaching isn’t ditch digging,” Fletcher added. “Teaching is a job where you have to have your heart and your soul in it every day, and you have to have the enthusiasm and the belief.”

Still, for some of the LAUSD teachers and staff members this layoff process could be their third or fourth round of layoff scares in their teaching careers.

“I cant gurantee that these people are going to keep coming back and that would be a tragic loss for every child in L.A.” Fletcher said.

Early and adult education programs have all been badly impacted this year.

Metropolitan High School teacher Sandra Christenson says she has 40 at risk kids in her classroom and imagines the number of troubled students will only escalate if layoff notices are not retracted.

“The schools don’t know what’s going to happen to [employees] and it causes such a demoralization of teachers who care so much,” she said. “We have at risk kids…you can’t hurt the teachers and not hurt the kids. It’s ridiculous.”

Metropolitan pink-slipped teacher Kierstyn Olsen agrees that LAUSD students will suffer severely.

“Basically they’re going to be neglected,” Olsen said. “Class sizes are going to go up. They’re not going to get the help that they need, and at the end of the day it means that more of them are going to drop out and not get diplomas.”

Ruben Santos, a student at Metropolitan High School, is disappointed that good teachers may be getting laid off once again.

“I feel really bad because a lot of these teachers really do help us a lot,” he said. “All the teachers that have been doing their job pretty good they don’t deserve to be laid off.”
 
The district is required to send out layoff warning notices before both the state and LAUSD’s budgets are finalized. LAUSD is also waiting on Governor Brown’s May budget revision.

LAUSD plans to ask voters to approve a $298 parcel tax in the fall that would raise about $255 million a year to help offset state funding cuts.

The hearings are expected to run until the end of June, when employees will find out just how many jobs will be salvaged.

RELATED:

Local Students and Teachers Protest Adult Education Cuts

LAUSD School Board Delays Massive Budget Cuts

Article source: http://www.atvn.org/news/2012/04/lausd-layoff-hearing

Electronic Arts is planning to lay off anywhere from 500 to 1,000 employees, or between five to 11 percent of their total workforce. The move could happen as soon as this week according to multiple sources within the company as reported by Derek Andersen from Startup Grind.

EA has since chimed in on the story with the following statement issued to MCV:

“There are no lay-offs as such, we always have projects growing and morphing. At any given time there are new people coming in and others leaving. EA is growing and hiring and building teams to support the growing demand for digital games and services.”

Despite the statement, Andersen still stands behind his original story and says that EA will likely spin any downsizing as some sort of “restructuring” rather than calling them “layoffs.” He says that pink slips were originally scheduled to be handed out April 9 but were ultimately pushed back.

Reasons for layoffs are aplenty, says Andersen. Sources tell him that estimates put Battlefield 3 sales around 13 million units and the company spent another $30 million in advertising after the release in an effort to further drive sales. The same thing was reportedly done with the Star Wars MMO but the move seemed to backfire as subscriptions are already declining.

Further backing his layoff claim is the fact that EA’s stock value has declined significantly in the past several years despite an opinion that game quality has improved. EA shares were once valued at nearly $70 but currently sit under $16. Anderson feels that CEO John Riccitiello’s time as the head of EA could be dwindling.

Article source: http://www.techspot.com/news/48212-electronic-arts-preparing-to-lay-off-at-least-500-employees.html