New documents indicate Solyndra lowballed the number of workers who lost their jobs when the California solar energy company filed for bankruptcy and shut its doors last August.

Solyndra's now-infamous bankruptcy announcement from Aug. 31, 2011, said that "approximately 1,100 full-time and temporary employees are being laid off effective immediately."

But after looking into benefits claims by former workers, the Labor Department found the true number of employees who were left jobless as a result of Solyndra's failure was 1,861.

The Labor Department documents were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Bay Citizen, a San Francisco news organization.

In addition to 1,094 full-time employees, the documents show that Solyndra also supported 649 temporary employees, 82 contractors and 14 other employees who lost their jobs Aug. 31. Twenty-two other employees were let go by mid-September. An additional 41 European employees and 85 U.S. employees were scheduled to be laid off over the course of the bankruptcy proceedings, the Labor Department document notes.

The documents also show that Solyndra, which was the recipient of a $535 million loan guarantee from a controversial Department of Energy loan program, was increasing the production of its unique cylindrical solar tubes in 2011 even as its sales were falling.

Republicans, who have sought to make Solyndra the poster child for a failed Obama administration green energy investment strategy, quickly latched onto the news today of Solyndra's true job losses. The House Energy and Commerce Committee, which was investigating the Solyndra loan even before the company went bankrupt, blasted today's Bay Citizen story.

"The sad truth is the more we learn about the Obama administration's hallmark green jobs program, the worse the news gets," Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said.

The report comes two weeks after presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney made a surprise visit to Solyndra's headquarters in Fremont, Calif., to blast President Obama for the Solyndra deal. Romney's news conference at the shuttered plant came nearly two years to the day after Obama made a high-profile visit to the facility to hail Solyndra as an "engine of economic growth."

Next week, Solyndra's remaining surplus assets will again be up for auction.

Solyndra plans to sell its core business assets and facility in one large sale through a separate process that is still being worked out through a bankruptcy court. But the company has been given the go-ahead to try to recoup as much money as it can for its surplus assets.

The June 20 auction will be the fourth for Solyndra since it filed for bankruptcy last year. More than 1,000 items will be made available, from headsets and computer printers to lasers and large robotic control systems.