Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Sends Layoff Notices to 600

It looks like bad news is coming to the workers of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. They are getting ready to get rid of workers in a big way, a way that just may cut back on services available to those most in need. The organization is sending layoff notices to 600 people. While the organization only looking to cut back on roughly 350 people in order to set it self to right with the new budget put out for the state by the souvenir, they are sending out more layoff notices so that they have the flexibility to make decisions about who they are going to have to cut, and who is going to stay when they have a bit more information.

The notices are coming in advance because this will qualify as a mass layoff action, and under those terms workers must be given at least 90 days of notice before they are kicked off of the payrolls and onto the unemployment lines. For those of you who are not familiar with the idea of a mass layoff action here is a look at how the federal government defines the term, “The Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program collects reports on mass layoff actions that result in workers being separated from their jobs. Monthly mass layoff numbers are from establishments which have at least 50 initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) filed against them during a 5-week period. Extended mass layoff numbers (issued quarterly) are from a subset of such establishments—where private sector nonfarm employers indicate that 50 or more workers were separated from their jobs for at least 31 days.”

Once these layoffs are done many people in the area are wondering what exactly will happen to the children who are in the care of the department in this situation.

Of course this is not the only department that is set to cut back on jobs in order to make ends meet under the new budget. For those of you who missed out on our earlier coverage here is an excerpt that will catch you up to speed in no time at all, “You may not know this but in the state of Illinois the Secretary of State is actually a really big deal. As a matter of fact most of us do not even have a real idea of what the Secretary of State actually does in our home state. So, how big of a deal is that office?… That is a fairly hefty job, but it is on that the current Secretary of State, Jesse White, is hoping that he can do with a lot fewer workers. The office is getting ready to send out layoff notice to 90 of the workers in the office. The job cuts are all part of a newly reduced state budget for the current fiscal year. In addition the office is losing a significant number of positions to attrition. The company is expected not to hire for about 160 currently open positions under the new budget for the year.”