State Farm to lay off 88 workers in Mendota Heights

Oct. 04--State Farm Insurance Co. will lay off 88 people from an operations center in Mendota Heights by Nov. 30.

The Bloomington, Ill.-based insurer announced in 2016 that the Mendota Heights office would be closing. It sent a WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) letter last week, through its State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, making the job eliminations official.

"State Farm is gaining efficiency through streamlining and improving processes, leveraging technology and concentrating employees in larger locations," said spokesman Benjamin Palmer in an e-mail.

The building lease expires at the end of the year, he said. "We made the announcement in 2016 to give employees time to make personal and professional decisions, and we will continue to work with employees to help them through this process."

There are currently about 100 positions at the Mendota Heights location. The positions affected include inspectors, claims processors and support staff.

Employees have been notified of the Nov. 30 termination date. State Farm will continue to have about 25 employees at a St. Paul office in addition to agents throughout the state.

State Farm has downsized its Twin Cities presence over the last two decades. In 2004, the company vacated its former corporate campus in Woodbury during another consolidation. That 100-acre campus, with a 400,000-square-foot office building, was sold in September 2013 and has been redeveloped.

State Farm also has filed layoff notices at other locations. On Tuesday, it notified Florida officials it would eliminate 100 employees at its Jacksonville location. On Sept. 5, it filed notices it was laying off 269 workers in Tacoma, Wash., and 82 employees in New York.

The company also moved or eliminated about 890 information-technology jobs at its Illinois headquarters over the summer. About 500 of those positions were eliminated as the company realigns three information-technology departments into one.

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