Buckland, Westfarms Staffers Facing Macy's Employee Furlough

MANCHESTER/FARMINGTON, CT — Macy's announced Monday it is furloughing the majority of its nearly 130,000 employees during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The move affects store employees at the Buckland Hills mall in Manchester and Westfarms mall in Farmington.

"Across Macy's brands, we will be moving to the absolute minimum work force needed to maintain basic operations," Macy's officials said in a statement distributed Monday. "This means the majority of our colleagues will go on furlough beginning this week."

Workers who are furloughed will continue to be covered in the company's health benefits plan through at least May, company officialds said.

The national retail chain, which has closed all stores since March 18, "will remain closed until we have a clear line of sight on when it is safe to reopen," according to the statement.

Since its stores were closed, Macy's Inc. has also drawn down its line of credit, frozen spending and hiring, extended payment terms and canceled a collection of orders.

Macy's has nine stores in Connecticut.

Macy's is still offering online shopping.