Too Few Quit, So Carter Hawley Hale Fires 100

The corporate parent of the Broadway-Southern California department store chain said it had dismissed nearly 100 employees after the company failed to achieve sufficient job cuts through attrition.

Carter Hawley Hale said about 75 of the dismissed employees worked at the distribution facilities of the Los Angeles-based retailer. The workers were notified of their dismissal Tuesday, company spokesman Bill Dombrowski said.

Last October, the company terminated 350 employees and said it planned to cut an additional 650 by leaving openings unfilled and through attrition. But the level of attrition was lower than expected, forcing the terminations this week, Dombrowski said. No further dismissals are expected, he said.

With uncertainties triggered by the economic recession and the Persian Gulf conflict, “people are not changing jobs,” said Dombrowski.