Retail giants furlough workers

Macy’s, Kohl’s, Gap make cuts due to store closures from virus.

Macy’s Inc., Kohl’s Corp. and Gap Inc. all said Monday that they will stop paying hundreds of thousands of employees who were thrown out of work when the retail chains temporarily closed their stores and sales collapsed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Macy’s said most of its 125,000 employees will be furloughed this week and that it is transitioning to an “absolute minimum workforce” needed to maintain basic operations. The department store giant said it has lost the bulk of its sales because of the temporary closing of more than 600 stores starting March 18.

Kohl’s said the furloughs will apply to 85,000 of its 120,000 employees at stores and distribution centers. It will continue to ship products and do curbside pickup from most stores with a limited number of staffers.

A Gap spokesman said the furloughs affect nearly 80,000 out of 129,000 employees across all the clothing company’s brands, including Banana Republic and Old Navy.

The furloughed workers will continue to collect health benefits.

The furloughs are bad news for an economy in which the retail industry supports 1 out of 4 workers. They are also perhaps the most dramatic sign that even big-name retailers are seeing business evaporate and that the $2-trillion rescue package passed by Congress and signed by President Trump last week may have limited effect.

Nordstrom Inc. said last week that it was furloughing a portion of its corporate staff. Designer Brands Inc., which operates DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse, furloughed 80% of its workers, effective last weekend. And according to Bloomberg, Neiman Marcus Group Inc. plans to furlough or impose temporary salary reductions on some staffers.