ALPHARETTA - Worldcom Incorporated will lay off 450 Georgia employees as part of its 17,000 job cuts. <br>
<br>
The cuts announced Friday will affect 13 percent of all Worldcom employees in Georgia. <br>
<br>
Most of the positions eliminated are at the telecommunication company's Alpharetta office complex. Worldcom had 3,600 Georgia workers before the cuts, which are effective today. <br>
<br>
The company eliminated about 1,300 jobs in Virginia, one thousand in Texas, nearly 700 in Maryland and 500 in Colorado. <br>
<br>
WorldCom revealed Tuesday that its internal auditors had found that billions of dollars were wrongly listed on its books as capital expenses in 2001 and 2002. That means WorldCom may have lost millions of dollars when it reported profits. <br>
<br>
Georgia Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond says the agency is waiting for official notification of the unemployed workers. They will be eligible for transition programs and other assistance.
