Results tagged “layoff”

The recession is really hitting home for one well-to-do Brooklyn couple. Real Housewives of New York's Alex McCord (betrothed to the creepy Simon Van Kempen) has just lost her job as visual merchandiser at Victoria's Secret (she was 1 of 90 axed at the NYC offices). More shocking is that she even had a job! Seeing as how the couple spend most of their time shopping and plotting the huge renovation on their Cobble Hill home, this is just very sad news. What purpose could they possibly serve on the show now? Perhaps they can form a troupe of triste Parisian mimes with their French-speaking spawn, Francois and Johan. For now, McCord says they will still jet off to St. Barth's even though it was her salary "that tended to pay for their infamous shopping sprees, not to mention the cost of their full-time nanny." [via Cobble Hill Blog]

Two separate reports show that monthly layoffs are at their highest level in almost seven years. CNBC reports that outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas cites November job losses to be "181,671, up 61% from October and 148% higher than November 2007" while payroll company ADP says November job cuts were around 250,000. (Back in January 2002, layoffs were at 248,475.) And more are coming: In its takeover of Merrill Lynch, Bank of America may cut up to 30,000 jobs (they will cut at least 10,000), through layoffs, attrition, and sales of business units. With that news, stock futures are down.

The NY Post reports on the overall unfairness of former Lehman Brothers employees' severance being cut off, while "former Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld received a total compensation package of $71.9 million last year." Though a former employee--who was laid off in March after 16 years with the firm--had signed a severance agreement giving her pay and health insurance through April 2009, she received a letter last month saying it was ending because of the bankruptcy. A few weeks ago during the chaos, Dealbreaker heard from more recently laid-off Lehman employees who were told their severance would run out soon or be non-existent.