Pink Slips Arrive for Orange County Social Workers
By VIKKI VARGAS
Updated 4:42 PM PST, Mon, Jan 5, 2009
Call it black Monday. By the end of Tuesday, more than 200 employees of the Orange County Social Services Agency will be notified they are being laid off. County officials say the layoffs will help them cut $30 million from their budget.
In tears, a woman named "Danny" said she had worked for the department for six years and did not expect to lose her job.
"With the way the economy is going you don't know if there are other jobs out there. This was definitely out of left field," she said.
The jobs being eliminated include social workers, and those who process the paperwork for both food stamps and Medi-cal coverage.
"We are trying to make these cuts with the least amount of disruption to our clients," said agency spokeswoman Terry Lynn Fisher.
But some worry the fall out will result in longer response times to those most in need.
"I think there will be a backlash", said former Orange County Supervisor Bill Steiner, who is now the chairman of the Juvenile Justice Commission, which oversees many of the affected programs.
The layoffs are the largest since Orange County declared bankruptcy in 1994.
First Published: Jan 5, 2009 4:33 PM PST
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