FirstEnergy notifies employees being laid off

FirstEnergy Corp. officials are notifying laid-off employees about their status in meetings this morning. The Akron-based utility last month disclosed it's working on several cost-cutting measures, including suspensions of pay raises this month & possible layoffs. The company was completing an 'organizational study' to review structure, which also likely include job cuts, officials said at the time. A spokeswoman morning confirmed employees companywide were in meetings to get the results of the organizational studies. Affected employees who will be laid off were also being notified this morning, she said. She declined further comment and said the company would release total numbers later this afternoon after all affected employees were notified. FirstEnergy employs 14,500 employees companywide & 2,700 in Summit County. The parent of Ohio Edison is the sixth-largest employer in the county. Last month, the company said if there's layoffs, they could be announced by the end of March and employees would qualify for the company severance plan. The company said there's not a target number for positions to be cut nor a target savings that needed to be met. It was studying several factors, including recent reg action that doesn't give the company as much revenue as requested, and the general economy, Raines said at the time. Also this month, it suspended annual salary raises. Most support staffers and managers receive annual merit adjustments each March. The suspension doesn't include members of collective-bargaining units or employees who were promoted or received equity adjustments to their salary, said Raines. The company's 401(k) match will not change, but the Akron-based utility has altered the parameters in which it would pay its 'bonus match.' The company will continue to match 50