Delta Force
11-08-2007, 03:01 PM
November 8, 2007
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Woodbury's Delta Financial laying off half its workforce
BY ELLEN YAN | ellen.yan@newsday.com
2:07 PM EST, November 8, 2007
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Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Fark Google Newsvine Reddit Yahoo Print Single page view Reprints Reader feedback Text size: Subprime lender Delta Financial Corp. is laying off almost half its workforce, hundreds of employees, its chief announced Thursday in an office e-mail that said he had "no viable alternatives."
Managers at the Woodbury-based firm called in employees Thursday morning and told them the news and by afternoon, many of them were gone, with promises of severance pay from chief executive Hugh Miller.
"While it was our expectation that the reduction in force we experienced this past August would be sufficient to sustain our business through what is a global credit crisis," Miller wrote in the e-mail, "the recent and unexpected turmoil in the subprime and securitization sectors is having a further and significant adverse impact on our business.
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Previous cover: Delta Financial
Hugh Miller's Delta layoff e-mail
"Please understand that there are no viable alternatives to today's actions. We must take these drastic measures to respond to unexpected and drastic times."
In the executive parking lot outside Delta's Woodbury Road office, a woman identifying herself as "a long-time executive" said, "We laid off a whole bunch of people." She later loaded her white Toyota sedan with boxes. Earlier in the day, a woman who works for another company in the office complex said, at l 20 people were seen leaving the Delta office with boxes, crying and hugging each other.
Miller said its Fidelity Mortgage offices will also be affected but the e-mail was short on details. An outgoing employee said at l two Fidelity offices will be closed, in Chicago and Arizona.
The layoffs come after a series of troubles, from 300 jobs cut just in August to suspended dividends and desperate negotiations to get a $60 million loan to weather the mortgage industry crisis. The company has about 1,000 workers nationwide.
"After the last layoff, you could set a bomb off on certain floors and no one would get hurt," the outgoing employee said. In his e-mail, Miller wished outgoing employees "a positive new beginning" and promised remaining workers to get through the "volatile business cycle and to preserve as many jobs as possible."
The latest cuts raise questions of how Delta can operate with just half its staff, but it was just the latest subprime lender to fall further.
Search Newsday.com Web enhanced by Login or register Home Delivery Updated: 20 minutes ago
Woodbury's Delta Financial laying off half its workforce
BY ELLEN YAN | ellen.yan@newsday.com
2:07 PM EST, November 8, 2007
Article tools
E-mail Share
Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Fark Google Newsvine Reddit Yahoo Print Single page view Reprints Reader feedback Text size: Subprime lender Delta Financial Corp. is laying off almost half its workforce, hundreds of employees, its chief announced Thursday in an office e-mail that said he had "no viable alternatives."
Managers at the Woodbury-based firm called in employees Thursday morning and told them the news and by afternoon, many of them were gone, with promises of severance pay from chief executive Hugh Miller.
"While it was our expectation that the reduction in force we experienced this past August would be sufficient to sustain our business through what is a global credit crisis," Miller wrote in the e-mail, "the recent and unexpected turmoil in the subprime and securitization sectors is having a further and significant adverse impact on our business.
Related links
Previous cover: Delta Financial
Hugh Miller's Delta layoff e-mail
"Please understand that there are no viable alternatives to today's actions. We must take these drastic measures to respond to unexpected and drastic times."
In the executive parking lot outside Delta's Woodbury Road office, a woman identifying herself as "a long-time executive" said, "We laid off a whole bunch of people." She later loaded her white Toyota sedan with boxes. Earlier in the day, a woman who works for another company in the office complex said, at l 20 people were seen leaving the Delta office with boxes, crying and hugging each other.
Miller said its Fidelity Mortgage offices will also be affected but the e-mail was short on details. An outgoing employee said at l two Fidelity offices will be closed, in Chicago and Arizona.
The layoffs come after a series of troubles, from 300 jobs cut just in August to suspended dividends and desperate negotiations to get a $60 million loan to weather the mortgage industry crisis. The company has about 1,000 workers nationwide.
"After the last layoff, you could set a bomb off on certain floors and no one would get hurt," the outgoing employee said. In his e-mail, Miller wished outgoing employees "a positive new beginning" and promised remaining workers to get through the "volatile business cycle and to preserve as many jobs as possible."
The latest cuts raise questions of how Delta can operate with just half its staff, but it was just the latest subprime lender to fall further.