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Nationwide Layoff Watch: LexisNexis

Wednesday, April 16, 2008 3:17 PM - By David Lat

Here’s some news that will surely generate schadenfreude over at Westlaw. From The Hook:

LexisNexis Lexis Nexis layoffs Above the Law blog.jpgNearly 300 Lexis Nexis employees will soon be looking for work…. The layoffs, announced at a companywide meeting in Lexis’ Dayton headquarters [on Monday] afternoon, are bad news for Lexis’ Ohio staff, particularly those in data collection, conversion, editing, and business systems.

According to Lexis spokesperson Sue D’Agostino, 215 of approximately 3,000 positions will be cut or outsourced in Dayton over the next 10 months, with another 75 positions being cut from some of the company’s other locations- Albany, Colorado Springs, New Providence, Newark, San Francisco, and Charlottesville.

No word on whether Lexis will stop supplying law students with free highlighters and tote bags.

There were warning signs that layoffs might be in the works, as reported last month by The Hook:

At the [Charlottesville] Lexis operation, employees are “anxious,” say sources too fearful to use their names. They cite several new policies implemented since January as examples of ways the company may be trying to push them out: 120 editors were converted from salaried to hourly status in January, a move some fear could make it easier to fire them.

Also implemented in January: a system by which employee comings and goings are tracked. Anyone who arrives late, leaves early, or calls in sick without giving a full 24 hours notice is given a citation called an “occurrence.” According to sources, as few as seven such “occurrences” can result in termination.

Tracking the comings and goings of workers? No big deal. Some law firms do it, too.

In addition, many employees were suddenly forced to sign a release allowing the company to do credit and criminal background checks, something one employee believes might have been the company’s way of seeking to cut more positions without having to provide severance compensation.

And conveniently enough, they won’t run up thousands of dollars in charges to conduct these background checks — they’re Lexis.

A digression, to satisfy our idle curiosity:

Lexis lay-offs come true… in Dayton [The Hook]
Reed Elsevier cost cuts to claim 1,000 jobs [Telegraph]
Lexis reacts [The Hook]
‘Occurrence’ worries- Lexis lay-offs? [The Hook]

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