Multiple billion-dollar tech companies and smaller firms in Utah are laying off workers less than a month before Christmas.

Driving the news: Draper-based Pluralsight laid off 20% of its workforce — about 400 employees — the company's CEO announced this week.

• The moves come about a week after Route and Podium laid off scores of employees.
• Venafi, a Salt Lake cybersecurity firm valued over $1 billion, also had a round of layoffs this month, according to former employees who posted on LinkedIn.

The intrigue: Some workers and industry watchers posted online that they were dismayed that the cuts are coming less than a month before Christmas.

What they're saying: "I'm sure it has to do with financials, making sure it's looking good at the end of the year. But it definitely is not a good look, and it seems shocking that so many companies are doing that," Nicki Sanders, a Cottonwood Heights blockchain engineer, told Axios.

• She was let go this week by TaxBit, but she said the company provided severance.

Context: The tech industry is bracing for a downturn in 2023, and investors are looking for more proof of frugality.

• Podium, for example, is prolonging a hiring slowdown, trimming office space, cutting software costs and reducing perks, according to a memo obtained by Business Insider.

ICYMI: How a sluggish finance market could change Utah's tech culture

What they're saying: "We accept full responsibility for the decisions that led us here, and we are incredibly sorry to have to make these necessary decisions," Podium CEO Eric Rea and co-founder Dennis Steele wrote, according to Insider.

What's next: Silicon Slopes is hosting a networking event from 9am–noon Monday at the organization's Lehi headquarters for recently laid-off workers and companies that are hiring.

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Salt Lake City School District is operating schools "inefficiently," costing the district $3.6 million a year in administrative, utility and food services fees, a state audit report released Tuesday found.

What they found: Auditors wrote the Salt Lake City Board of Education has not made changes or closed down schools in response to the district's yearslong declining enrollment.

• In the last five years, enrollment in the district has declined by 13%.
• The report also said two increases in property taxes could have been avoided had the district chosen not to rebuild elementary schools that needed seismic upgrades.

Yes, and: Auditors wrote they questioned the ethical behavior of some board members.

What they're saying: Yándary Chatwin, a spokesperson for the district, told Axios that officials are looking into studying school closures and boundary realignment to account for declining enrollment.

Context: In recent years, the Salt Lake City School District has faced claims of dysfunction and a lack of transparency.

• In October, the school board agreed to a $200,000 separation agreement with former Superintendent Timothy Gadson III amid a dispute.

The bottom line: During the 2022 school year, the district has utilized 57% of available space in its elementaries.

• Auditors said the district would need to close six elementary schools in order to reach 75% capacity and save costs.

A federal appeals court ruled that a Utah Highway Patrol trooper is not immune to a lawsuit accusing him of pulling over a woman in order to flirt with her.

Driving the news: The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that a lawsuit by a Lehi tow company employee can move forward.

• The employee accused the trooper of sexually harassing her when the company was called to remove large trucks from Utah's highways.
• In 2017, the trooper, who knew her through her company, pulled her over on the freeway to say hi and flirt.
• He also sent dozens of sexually suggestive and "flirtatious" text messages, the judges wrote.

Catch up quick: U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby had thrown out the 2018 case, saying the trooper had "qualified immunity," which requires a plaintiff to prove a "clearly established" right was violated in order to sue a government employee.

The latest: The appeals court found that the trooper admitted "he did not possess any reason to stop [the driver] when he pulled her over," and any reasonable officer should know they need "an articulable suspicion of a traffic violation" to stop a driver.

• The trooper "violated [the woman's] clearly established Fourth Amendment right to be free from an unreasonable seizure," the judges wrote.

⛰️ A backcountry skier broke his leg after being partially buried by an avalanche yesterday in Neffs Canyon. (FOX 13)

🏈 The Rose Bowl is honoring late University of Utah football players, Ty Jordan and Aaron Lowe, who each died from gunshot wounds in a one-year span. (The Salt Lake Tribune)

🏳️‍🌈 A Salt Lake City man created a version of the Utah flag that celebrates the LGBTQ community. (KSL.com)

📦 Some Utah post offices are facing a worker shortage going into the holiday season. (KUER)

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Lots of you correctly identified the photo above!

• It's of the organ pipes in the Tabernacle at Temple Square.

Of note: Organ recitals take place daily at noon, and December is a great month to check it out.

Erin's thought bubble: For an instrument that's widely seen as gloomy and stodgy, organ music is surprisingly rich with fresh takes on familiar tunes.

• The range of pitch and sounds on an organ make it a great vehicle for interesting and creative arrangements, and Christmas music is a fantastic showcase for that.

🎉 Congratulations to Keith P., who was the first person to submit the right answer!