Blue Cross to Lay Off 120 in Woodland Hills

Blue Cross of California announced Monday that it will dismiss 120 workers at its Southern California headquarters in Woodland Hills as part of a general reduction of its data processing staff.

Statewide, Blue Cross said, it will indefinitely lay off another 200 employees, including 170 in its Oakland headquarters. Blue Cross employs about 6,000 in California, half of whom are in Woodland Hills.

The dismissals, effective Sept. 2, eliminate five management posts but all were below the level of vice president, said Sharrell Blakeley, a Blue Cross spokeswoman.

The dismissed workers will receive an unspecified amount of severance pay and health benefits through the end of the year, Blakeley said. They will be offered assistance in job-hunting skills such as preparing resumes, she said.

Blue Cross had hired more than 1,000 computer specialists statewide over the last three years in an effort to improve claims processing, but has lost more than 150,000 members in that period, in part because of increased competition, Blakeley said.

The not-for-profit health insurance organization reported that earnings dropped 19%, to $51 million last year, on revenue that fell 1.2%, to $2.15 billion. In addition, only $6 million of last year’s earnings came from insurance underwriting. Most of the earnings were from investment profits and the sale of a building in Oakland.