Hartford-based Aetna Inc. has laid off an additional 625 workers nationwide, about 100 of those in Connecticut, company officials said.
The cuts are in line with company statements three months ago when Aetna also eliminated 625 jobs — 160 in Connecticut — and officials warned that a similar downsizing would occur by the end of the first quarter of 2010.
Aetna spokesman Fred R. Laberge said that the layoffs are “the implementation of what we announced back in November.”
In Connecticut, the majority of layoffs are in Hartford, Laberge said, adding he doesn’t have a figure for the number laid off at the Windsor office, “but it was just a few, if any.”
Aetna is making the additional job cuts “to improve our competitive position in light of the ongoing weakness in the economy and anticipation of high levels of unemployment in 2010 and beyond, leading to a decline in membership,” he said.
Laid-off employees will receive severance pay based on years of service, Laberge said.
In the November job cuts Aetna split the layoffs between its Hartford and Middletown offices, again with few if any at its Windsor office, Laberge said at the time.
Aetna has about 35,000 employees overall, roughly 7,300 in Connecticut.
In addition to the job cuts, the company has said that it will consolidate field offices to reduce real estate costs, eventually including the closing of the Middletown office.
Aetna has estimated that it will incur a fourth-quarter 2009 charge of up to $65 million, after taxes, related to the layoffs in November and this week.
About $40 million of the total is related to severance pay and other costs from the November job cuts r and the closing of some offices. The remaining amount, up to $25 million, was for the new layoffs.
Aetna has been cutting its work force annually for three years. More than 900 jobs have been eliminated since 2007, when Aetna laid off 280 workers in Connecticut as part of a larger 650-worker cutback nationwide.
In 2008 the insurance company announced 1,000 job cuts around the nation, including 375 from its Connecticut payroll.g
