Malibu’s HRL Labs cuts 376 jobs after losing government work

Malibu-based HRL Laboratories LLC, which once employed a U.S.-Chinese engineer sentenced to 46 months in prison for stealing trade secrets related to sensitive military technology, is laying off a third of its 1,130-employee workforce.

Employees were notified Feb. 3 that 376 employees would be laid off permanently on April 3 due to the “anticipated termination of a government program,” according to a letter filed with the state’s Employment Development Department by Genny Findlay, chief of HRL’s human resources office.

“This action was the result of a significant reduction in funding,” wrote Pamela Reese, an HRL spokeswoman, in a statement issued to the Southern California News Group. She declined to comment on the specifics of the canceled government program.

In the letter, Findlay wrote that the purpose of the layoff notice was to update a prior notice submitted Nov. 17 of a smaller workforce cut of 58 workers. The lion’s share of layoffs — 258 — will take place at HRL’s Malibu headquarters, with other layoffs coming to satellite offices, including Santa Monica (21), Calabasas (50), Camarillo (4), Thousand Oaks (35) and eight remote workers.

HRL, which specializes in sensors, microelectronics and information sciences, may close one of the satellite campuses and relocate existing staff to Mailbu or to one of the remaining satellite campuses, according to Findlay.  Reese said that HRL plans to maintain its presence in Malibu and has “no plans to close any of our other locations at this time.”

Last November, the then 59-year-old engineer Chenguang Gong was sentenced to 46 months in prison for stealing trade secrets related to technology for detecting nuclear missile launches, tracking ballistic and hypersonic missiles, and allowing fighter planes to detect and evade heat-seeking missiles. Gong also was ordered to pay $77,408 in restitution and fined $100,000.

U.S. District Judge John Walter of the Los Angeles Central District of California in Los Angeles, wrote there was no credible evidence that Gong had sold the stolen technology to China. However, he did not dismiss the fact that Gong’s theft of thousands of files from HRL was a serious offense that required a substantial prison sentence.

Gong also stole proprietary information from two other employers — BAE Systems and Texas Instruments — and used it in pitches to China’s “Talent Programs” to raise funding for a startup, according to the Justice Department. In these pitches, Gong emphasized the technology’s military applications, prosecutors said.

Reese said that the layoffs have no connection to the Chenguang Gong incident.

The EDD layoff filing was made as part of the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act — commonly referred to as WARN — which is required when an employer terminates more than 50 employees. All affected employees are notified at least 60 days before their layoffs are scheduled to occur.

The terminated jobs listed by Findlay include scientists, cybersecurity and systems engineers, financial analysts, video content creators, a division director, a chemical and gas handler, and information technology analysts.

Formerly the research arm of Hughes Aircraft, HRL is currently owned by General Motors Corp. and Boeing. The lab, which was reorganized as a privately held company in 1997, was established by Howard Hughes in 1948.