J.P. Morgan to lay off 9,200 WaMu workers

J.P. Morgan Chase will lay off 9,200 Washington Mutual employees nationally, out of the company’s total work force of about 42,000.

Of those workers, 4,000 will leave within the next 60 days and the remaining employees will be placed on J.P. Morgan’s transition team.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is keeping about 800 Seattle employees, while laying off some 3,400 there. Of those people, 1,500 will leave the bank in the next 60 days while the remaining 1,900 will be placed on J.P. Morgan’s transition team.

Transition team employees will stay for varying lengths of time depending on the projects they are working on, with the longest duration lasting through 2009.

Transition team employees will receive double salary for the remaining time they stay at the bank.

All laid-off WaMu employees will be eligible for outplacement services and will receive lump-sum severance payments based on their years of service with the bank.

J.P. Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon was in Seattle on Monday and spoke with about 125 local branch managers, which the company considers the “front line of the bank,” J.P. Morgan spokesman Tom Kelly said.

WaMu’s branch employees are not affected by the layoffs.

Source : SFBusinessTimes
[tags : recession bankrupt collapse retrenchment financial news collapse stagnation economic slowdown financial collapse world recession global recession layoff job cut]