Joplin Business Department



BOFA LAYOFFS ONGOING, BUT MYSTERIOUSFebruary 10, 2009 Charlotte Observer, The (NC) Edition: STATESection: BUSINESSPage: 1DAuthor:?Christina Rexrode and Rick Rothacker crexrode@ rrothacker@ Christina Rexrode and Rick Rothacker crexrode@ rrothacker@. "BOFA LAYOFFS ONGOING, BUT MYSTERIOUS" Charlotte Observer, The (NC)2009-02-10: 1D.Business NewsBank By NewsbankOnline. Infoweb by Newsbank, Inc. April 19, 2009. EMPLOYEES SAY CO-WORKERS EXIT WITH LITTLE WARNING, WITH WORK UNFINISHED, AND IT'S UNCLEAR WHERE IT WILL ALL END. Two months since Bank of America Corp. announced major companywide ?layoffs?, the cuts are rippling through Charlotte, but it's still unclear how many jobs will be lost in the bank's headquarters city. The bank last month filed a notice with state officials saying it would eliminate 139 workers in Ballantyne, but beyond that it has declined to confirm reports of ?layoffs?, or to say how many workers will be affected here. The 35,000 job cuts announced in December are related to the Jan. 1 purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co. and a weak economy. They will take place over the next three years. Current and former employees say job cuts began in December and have intensified in recent weeks, hitting a variety of divisions and levels, but even those inside the company say it's difficult to gauge the total impact. The quiet nature of the cuts has eroded morale and left many nervous about their own posts, they say. Among employees in Charlotte there is a feeling "they are chopping people left and right," one laid-off worker said. Current and former employees didn't want their names used for fear of losing their jobs or severance pay. At least 20 workers were let go last week in the quality and productivity division. Risk management also laid off workers. Corporate and investment banking, technology and operations, personnel and finance have been hit, according to employees who spoke to the Observer. Bank of America is one of the Charlotte area's biggest employers, with about 15,000 workers here as of last year. The job cuts affect the bank's workers, as well as the broader economy. Companies are supposed to notify the state each time they announce mass layoffs, but that regulation has little teeth and lots of loopholes. In four key states where the bank operates, including North Carolina, Bank of America has disclosed 460 layoffs so far this year. While Bank of America employees are used to enduring merger-related layoffs, these latest cuts appear to be affecting Charlotte more than in recent deals, where acquired banks' home cities such as Boston and Chicago suffered bigger job losses. One reason for the difference is that many of the recent cuts aren't directly related to mergers, with employees being told their positions are being lost due to "economic struggles." Bank of America chief executive Ken Lewis is also under pressure to cut costs quickly after massive losses at Merrill and his own bank in the fourth quarter. In addition to the layoffs announced in December, the bank is also eliminating 7,500 jobs in its Countrywide Financial Corp. acquisition. With the Merrill deal, the bank now has about 301,000 employees. One employee said last week that he noticed layoffs spreading beyond the divisions that significantly overlap with Merrill, into areas such as deposits and small-business lending. He said the bank is internally announcing new teams for different units. The teams are smaller than before, but there's no mention of who's missing or what happened to them. Bank of America employees say layoffs are happening quickly, with workers often having their access to bank systems immediately cut off. Sometimes e-mails circulate with farewells from workers shortly before they leave. Sometimes employees learn a co-worker is gone after the fact. "Nobody knows what's going on," said one Charlotte employee. "People leave their desk, come back, and then people applaud when they walk out." Said another: "It's almost like a bomb went off and you don't know till afterward who's alive and who's dead." Employees are leaving so abruptly that they are leaving behind unfinished work. In the past, workers were given more advance notice they were losing their job and given time to search for other positions within the company. The cuts have spurred resentment among Bank of America employees against Merrill workers. Some think Merrill workers are getting preference for jobs, even though their company is the one being bought out, and they're angry that their bonuses have been cut while Merrill paid bonuses in December. Departing employees receive severance. According to a document obtained by the Observer, employees get two weeks of pay for each fully completed year of service up to 52 weeks. The minimum is based on the employees' level, or "band," in the company, with higher-level employees getting a minimum of 16 weeks of pay. The lowest levels get a minimum of four weeks. A federal regulation known as the WARN Act is meant to require companies to disclose mass layoffs, but it covers only a small portion of the latest layoffs at Bank of America. The WARN Act, which stands for the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, requires companies with more than 100 workers to notify the state and local government, as well as the affected workers, at least 60 days before they enact mass layoffs. For a company as large as Bank of America, a mass layoff would be defined as 500 layoffs in a 30-day period at one employment site. But administrators in some states complain that companies violate the spirit of the WARN Act so that they don't have to file notices. They stagger layoffs over more than one month, or they offer buyouts, which don't count as layoffs. The government does not have any authority to enforce WARN laws. Workers can file lawsuits in federal court if they think their employer violated the WARN Act. Bank of America says it complies with all federal and state WARN laws. The bank filed no WARN notices in 2008. It appears the bank had to file a notice about the Ballantyne cuts because it was closing an entire business unit. The bank also filed two WARN notices in New York last month. One was for 121 investment banking workers at the bank's new Midtown Manhattan headquarters; the other was for an unspecified number of workers in the World Financial Center, Merrill's base. In addition, it has notified Texas officials of 85 layoffs and California officials of 115. Copyright (c) 2009 The Charlotte ObserverRecord Number: 12646F66EDC7D940 Article Bookmark(OpenURL Compliant):Charlotte Observer, The (NC) : BOFA LAYOFFS ONGOING, BUT MYSTERIOUS ................
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