	iomega iomg sets management labor layoffs iomega corp said it has laid off over a quarter of its professional and management staff and nearly half of its direct labor force as part of a restructuring and downsizing of its business the company also said it will receive a qualified opinion from the auditors of it financial statement subject to the outcome of two suits the company is a defendant in a consolidated class action law suit which seeks damages in an unspecified amount and is also a defendant in a related shareholder action iomega said the auditors state in their opinion letter that both actions are in the early stages of discovery and the likely outcome can not be determined at this time the company said a corporate wide reduction of its professional management and indirect labor will result in the permanent elimination of positions in all functional areas of the company s business this represents over pct of professional management and indirect employees it added in addition iomega announced layoff of about employees principally from its manufacturing direct labor force those affected represent about pct of direct labor commenting on the layoffs iomega said those from among the direct labor force affects personnel building the alpha eight inch disk drive and bernoulli boxes this action is required as we bring our finished goods inventory and inventory in our distribution channels down to acceptable levels it explained the company stated this layoff does not affect the production of its new inch beta product which is currently being built to a backlog of orders reuter 
