Oprah’s studio company gives notice of layoffs

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Updated: August 3, 2011 5:44PM

Harpo Studios plans to layoff an undisclosed number of workers, but it could be a third of its staff.

The production company owned by Oprah Winfrey, who ended her show after a 25-year run last month, filed a notice with the state May 3 meeting a requirement of the Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. The act requires employers with 75 or more full-time workers to give 60 days notice to their employees, unions and state government of a plant closing or mass layoff. A mass layoff is defined as 25 or more full-time employees if they constitute one third or more of the full-time employees at the site.

Harpo employed 355 Chicago-based employees as of December 31, 2010, according to a statement from the company.

“Harpo is in the process of separating some employees from its campus facilities here as part of the company’s restructuring,” the statement said. “Employees are being notified on a departmental basis whether their jobs will be eliminated and whether they are eligible to be retained in positions they are capable of filling. Most of those leaving us are doing so voluntarily to pursue other interests.”

The layoffs started on or about May 25 and will go on throughout the summer months, the company said, adding, “We are tracking on a daily basis the number of employees who have accepted new positions or leave voluntarily versus those who will be separated and therefore suffer an ‘employment loss’ within the meaning of the law.”

Other companies disclosing plans of layoffs, included:

†Arlington Heights-based security systems services company CastleRock Security Inc., which will cut 102 workers.

†Rosemont-based blood and organ banks company LifeSource, which will cut 63 workers.

†Glen Ellyn-based First Student, a bus transportation company, which will cut 80 workers.