Kaiser Permanente said on Saturday that it is cutting 530 jobs at its operations in Southern California.
The health management organization (HMO) released a statement saying that many of the laid off workers could be rehired next year, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin noted.
In October, Kaiser laid off 84 Southern California-based workers. The company said the latest round of layoffs had been prompted by the Affordable Care Act. That legislation, signed into law by President Obama last year, is set to begin taking effect next year,
Kaiser currently employs about 60,000 staff and 5,700 physicians in Southern California. No physicians were affected by the new layoffs. Unionized clerical and health care workers will receive income and retraining benefits as they search for new employment.
A number of other companies have recently announced plans to shed workers, including:
- Panasonic (NYSE:PC) — 10,000 jobs by the end of March.
- Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) — 2,300 jobs over the next four years.
- UBS (NYSE:UBS) — 10,000 workers over the next three to five years.
- Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (NYSE:MSO) — will layoff about 12% of its workforce.
- Comcast‘s (NASDAQ:CMCSA) NBCUniversal — will eliminate 450 jobs across its operating divisions.
