400 Claim Jumper workers get pink slips

IRVINE — Irvine-based Claim Jumper restaurants, which recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has closed several of its locations and is in the process of laying off 400 workers in Ventura, Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Claim Jumper restaurants in Irvine and Torrance were closed Monday.

State unemployment records show that 67 workers at the Irvine restaurant on Alton Parkway will be laid off as of Dec. 11.

More than 90 workers at the Claim Jumper corporate headquarters in Irvine were given pink slips.

86 workers at the Thousand Oaks location have also received Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, or WARN, notices.

WARN notices are mandatory under state law when 50 or more workers are let go. The act also requires that displaced workers receive assistance in finding other jobs.

Claim Jumper operated 45 restaurants in eight states. A bulk of those restaurants are in California.

Earlier this year, Claim Jumper filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The filing prompted suitors to bid for the chain, including Landry’s Restaurants Inc.

The Texas-based chain is buying the company for $76.6 million.