Register to Cut 80 Jobs With Separation Offer

Blaming a decline in advertising revenue, the Orange County Register said Tuesday that it will trim about 80 jobs through a voluntary separation package to be offered to about 450 employees.

The announcement came two weeks after the newspaper eliminated about 50 jobs when it closed its afternoon edition. The voluntary separation will reduce the Register’s work force, now 2,200, by about 4%.

“We must further streamline certain of our operations, which . . . means fewer jobs in a number of different areas,” Publisher R. David Threshie said in a statement.

Register employees will receive letters informing them whether or not they are eligible for the program. If they are, they will have from April 20 to May 26 to decide whether to accept the package, said John Schueler, executive vice president and general manager.

Those who are accepted will get three weeks’ severance pay, Schueler said, plus two weeks’ pay for every year they have worked at the Register. They will also be offered outplacement assistance, he said.

The package is being extended to only 450 employees in areas pinpointed by division managers as having the least effect on operations, Schueler said.

Division directors “sat down and said, ‘What positions could we do with less in today’s environment?’ ” he said. He would not be more specific except to say that “functions throughout the company” will be included in the offer.

Of those offered the severance package, he said, the newspaper expects to accept about 80 on a “first-come, first-served basis.”

The Los Angeles Times, also citing slumping advertising revenue, offered a voluntary separation package earlier this year. Nearly 670 Times employees took the offer, which was made to 5,200 workers. Eligibility was based on seniority, and those who qualified received up to two years’ pay and company-paid medical coverage for themselves and their dependents.