Packard Bell Employees Given 2 Weeks to Decide on Layoffs
About 420 Packard Bell employees still reeling from Monday’s earthquake received another jolt Friday when company officials told them they would be laid off in two weeks--unless they accepted an earlier offer to take a pay cut of up to 30% and move to Utah.
John Hlavac, the Packard Bell vice president who signed the termination notices, declined to say how many employees refused to relocate and were being laid off. The termination notices blamed the sudden layoffs on quake damage suffered by the personal computer manufacturer’s service center facility in Chatsworth, which fields phone calls from customers.
“It couldn’t have come at a worse time for many of us,” said Greg Black, 39, a one-year Packard Bell employee. “I mean, right in the middle of all that is happening to us already.”
The company also has plans to move its 1,100-employee headquarters out of Chatsworth.
“They told us we would have to take pay cuts because the cost of living is lower in Utah. But it’s just wage busting,” said Black, who lives in Chatsworth with his wife and two young children. “My cut would be almost 25%, but some people are losing 30% in pay.”
Service center employees received a letter from Hlavac dated Jan. 10 that said the pay cuts are justified because of “a lower cost of living in Utah, lower sales taxes in Utah and reduced state income taxes.”
The letter promised bonuses of $75 a week until their termination for employees who chose not to relocate. Many expected to continue working until March. Instead, the workers got two weeks’ notice Friday.
Jonathan Blake, 44, said he was told he would have to take a pay cut from $11.18 an hour to $8.50 an hour if he moved to Utah.
Since the quake, the Canoga Park man has been living with his wife and two children in a tent outside their damaged home. When Blake was notified of his impending layoff, his wife was at home, awaiting the arrival of a city building inspector who was to decide if the house was habitable.
