Report: Fingerhut Halts Further Layoff Notices
A Fingerhut Cos. Inc. spokesman said the company does not plan to send additional layoff notices to employees as long as the sale of the cataloger remains a possibility, according to an Associated Press report.Nearly 70 percent of Fingerhut's 6,000 employees in Minnesota and Tennessee received 60-day notices as of Jan. 25. However, no warnings have been issued since then, spokesman Ben Saukko said Feb. 6.
"It is likely that we won't [issue more] until a final decision is made on buyer status," said Saukko, who, according to the report, said he could not determine the number of employees who had been placed on paid leave since Federated Department Stores Inc., Fingerhut's parent company, announced Jan. 16 that it would close Fingerhut, Minnetonka, MN, if it couldn't find a buyer.
Federated expects to receive at least one offer this week, said Carol Sanger, vice president of corporate affairs at Federated, Cincinnati. She added that no deadline has been established for purchase offers.
"We are going to allow this process to play out until it becomes obvious that there are no additional viable buyers," she said. "We're not going to shut it down until we are convinced we have run the string."
