Barneys staff gets the shaft without warning

Barneys staff gets the shaft without warning

02/22/2020

Barneys New York is finally being put out of its misery. But its workers continue to suffer.

We’re told staffers first discovered the bankrupt store was closing its doors when they read about it in The Post on Feb. 13 — and management officially announced the news only days before they’ll be out on the street.

When it eventually came on Thursday, the memo — obtained by Page Six — said sales associates’ last day would be today, and that support staff would be kept on until Monday.

“It’s so unfair for them to wait to the last damn minute to say, ‘It’s your last day,’ ” said one insider.

Meanwhile, we’re told many longtime workers were stunned to learn they won’t get severance.

The Post reported that “at a Thursday morning meeting, Barneys management told staffers that they would receive five weeks of severance pay if they have worked for the company for two years or longer.”

But it turned out that longtime non-union staff won’t get the payout.

“It feels like all of those hours put in have been a complete waste of time. Your last day is your last day and you’re not getting a cent,” a source, whose husband worked in loss prevention for 25 years, told Page Six. “People thought they would, at the minimum, get a ‘thank you for your time.’ A lot of them are over 50. There’s even a guy there who’s 71.”

The memo also notes “unused benefit time from 2020 will not be paid out at this time given the company’s very limited resources.”

“They easily could have spent probably $25 million to $50 million on legal fees and crisis management, and they get paid,” said an insider familiar with the retailer’s bankruptcy woes. “People who have been employed, or vendors, sort of get shot . . . It happens in ­every bankruptcy like this and it’s not fair. The money goes to the wrong places.”

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