21st Century to Fire 110 Employees

The Woodland Hills insurance provider 21st Century Insurance Group plans to fire 4 percent of its workers, or 110 employees, the company announced Tuesday. The lay-offs are expected to result in $3.7 million in severance expenses for the first quarter of this year. The company also expects to cut information technology contractors from 300 to 20 by this spring. “2005 and 2006 were periods of implementation of new systems and new markets. Now that we have achieved a national capability, we are committed to reducing our expense ratio through expense management, quality of operations and growth in premiums,” said Steve Erwin, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, in a statement released Tuesday.