Circuit City Lays Off 3,400 Higher-Paid Employees
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A new plan for layoffs at Circuit City is openly targeting better-paid workers, risking a public backlash by implying that its wages are as subject to discounts as its flat-screen TVs.
The electronics retailer, facing larger competitors and falling sales, said yesterday that it would lay off about 3,400 store employees — immediately — and replace them with lower-paid new hires as soon as possible.
The laid-off workers, about 8% of the company’s total work force, would get a severance package and a chance to reapply for their former jobs, at lower pay, after a 10-week delay, the company said.
