Bill Clinton

Former President Bill Clinton waves as he makes his way into a crowd on the final day of the Clinton Global Initiative, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2016, in New York.

(Mark Lennihan | AP)

New York — The Clinton Foundation will lay off 74 employees at its Clinton Global Initiative office in New York City at the end of the year, according to a notice filed with the state.

The notice, required under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act), said the 74 employees at the initiative's offices on the 42nd floor at 1271 Avenue of the Americas will be laid off on Dec. 31.

The notice cites the foundation's plan to discontinue the initiative, which was started by former President Bill Clinton in 2005 to convene "global leaders to create and implement innovative solutions to the world's most pressing challenges."

Media outlets previously reported that "dozens" of workers at the Clinton Global Initiative had been told they would be laid off at the end of the year, but the WARN Act filing to the state Department of Labor is the first official notice of the number and timing of the layoffs.

The initiative is an offshoot of the (Bill, Hillary & Chelsea) Clinton Foundation, a charity created by the Clintons to operate global health and wellness programs, increase opportunities for girls and women, reduce childhood obesity, create economic opportunity and growth, and help communities address the effects of climate change.

The Clinton Global Initiative brought together business and global leaders at annual conferences to address some of the same issues the Clinton Foundation focuses on. It held its 12th and final annual meeting in New York City on Sept. 21.

With Hillary Clinton running for president, the foundation has come under attack from Republicans, who have criticized it for accepting foreign donations and accused her of giving donors special access to her office while she was Secretary of State.

In the wake of the criticism, Bill Clinton announced the foundation would stop accepting foreign and corporate donations if his wife is elected president and then later said the Clinton Global Initiative would shut down.

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