Labor & Employment

Nordstrom plans to hire about 11,800 seasonal employees for the coming holiday season, mostly for sales and stock positions at the upscale chain and its less pricey Nordstrom Rack locations.

The retailer also plans to hire 1,600 temporary workers to support its e-commerce business at its three fulfillment centers.

Costco is adding a bit of digital expertise to its ranks with its latest new board member.

Rooms to Go is cutting the ribbon this weekend on the largest retail furniture store in the Southeastern United States.

The Florida-based retailer will open a Rooms to Go Super Center and Distribution Center on Oct. 17 in Dunn, N.C. The newly built facility comprises approximately 1,450,000 square feet on 120 acres and houses a state of the art Rooms to Go showroom, a Rooms to Go Kids/Teens showroom, a Rooms to Go Outlet Center and a huge distribution center housing tens of thousands of pieces of furniture.

Food Lion has rolled out its “Easy Fresh and Affordable” branding campaign to its 162 stores in the Raleigh, North Carolina market. The $250 million initiative included full store remodels, price investments and training of associates.

Staples is limiting the severance pay of top executives as the resolution of a deal with Office Depot draws near.

Staples announced that its board of directors has adopted a new policy stipulating that the company will not pay any severance benefits that exceed three times the sum of an executive’s base salary plus target annual cash incentive award, without seeking shareholder approval.

In addition, CEO Ron Sargent has elected to amend his severance agreement to align with the terms of the new policy.

Dollar General is rightsizing its expense structure by eliminating several hundred positions at its home office.

Curt Garner, who first announced he would leave his current role as CIO of Starbucks Corp. in June, has revealed his next professional stop.

Garner will join Chipotle Mexican Grill as CIO effective Nov. 23, and become the company’s first executive with that title. Chipotle appears to want to duplicate some of the IT-related success Starbucks has had in areas such as store operations and customer experience.

A key Under Armour executive is stepping down.

Under Armour announced that its COO and CFO, Brad Dickerson, is leaving the company to pursue an unnamed opportunity outside of the athletic performance industry.

Kroger has announced that it had added transgender health benefits to one of the company’s health insurance plans, according to Forbes. "Beginning January 1, 2016, medical procedures including surgery and drug therapy for gender reassignment will be covered up to a $100,000 lifetime maximum for eligible associates and their dependents,” the company wrote on their employee social network. (Forbes)