In the early days of this long economic slide, workers in the field of health care felt like they were likely to be able to ride this safely, for the most part. After all they are performing a vital community service and just because banks do not make smart investments does not mean that people stop getting sick and needing health care. In recessions past these kinds of jobs have been more stable then other private industry jobs.

The Lovelace Health System is probably not a name you have heard of, unless you happen to live in an area close to of one their facilities. For those of you who are not as familiar with the facility here is a look at how the Lovelace Health System defines itself, “Lovelace Health System is comprised of Lovelace Medical Center, Lovelace Rehabilitation Hospital, Lovelace Women’s Hospital, Lovelace Westside Hospital, Heart Hospital of New Mexico at Lovelace Medical Center, Lovelace Regional Hospital-Roswell, the Lovelace Health Plan offering health insurance to 230,000 New Mexicans with access to a wide range of health care providers and specialists across New Mexico, and 11 retail pharmacy locations in Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and Santa Fe. Lovelace Health System continues to make significant investments in new services and technologies, and our nearly 4,000 employees and physicians are committed to providing our community with high quality health care and service.”

Of those nearly 4,000 employees about 80 are going to be put out of a job under the terms of the company’s latest plans. While that may not sound like a lot of layoffs in the absolute terms, but it is more than enough to qualify as a mass layoff action under the current federal guidelines. For those of you who are not familiar with the idea of a mass layoff action here is a look at how the federal government defines the term, “The Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program collects reports on mass layoff actions that result in workers being separated from their jobs. Monthly mass layoff numbers are from establishments which have at least 50 initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) filed against them during a 5-week period. Extended mass layoff numbers (issued quarterly) are from a subset of such establishments—where private sector nonfarm employers indicate that 50 or more workers were separated from their jobs for at least 31 days.”

On the bright side a mass layoff action gives workers an extra level of protection when they get the axe. The workers will be paid for at least 60 days after they are given the notice, in order to give the workers and the community at large time to prepare for the job losses, as a mass layoff action can have ripple effects in the community as the loss of consumer spending effects local businesses and they may, in turn, need to layoff staff.

For now the company is not saying what kind of extra benefits, if any, it will extending to the workers who are being displaced.