Human Resources

Walmart is the nation’s largest food retailer, and 140 million people shop its stores each week, yet somehow the company ranked second to last on a ranking of the best and worst supermarkets in America.

Chattanooga, Tenn. -- CBL & Associates Properties said it has appointed Jeff Curry as chief legal officer for the company.

Curry has been serving as interim chief legal officer for CBL since February 2012 and has served as an external legal advisor to CBL since 1986.

In his new role, Curry will oversee all of the company’s legal services, including real estate, corporate, securities and tax.
 

NEW YORK— The ax has fallen at JCPenney. The company on Thursday laid off 600 workers from its corporate headquarters Plano, Texas, as its looks to streamline its business model amid a major reinvention of the business. The staff reduction, which equaled 13% to 14% of the headquarters staff, did not include any senior executives, according to The New York Times.

Chelmsford, Mass. -- The Retail Labor Index released Thursday by Kronos Inc. indicated that applications for retail jobs are waning.

The April Index, which characterizes the March 2012 state of the demand and supply sides of the labor market within the U.S. retail sector, prepared by Macroeconomic Advisers, was down slightly in March to a still solid 4.3%. (The index is defined as the ratio of hires to applications within a given month, expressed as a percentage. A level of 3% means that for every 100 applications received, three hires occurred).

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — Staples has nominated Dr. Drew Faust, president of Harvard University, to its board of directors. The election of directors will take place at the company’s annual meeting, scheduled for June 4.

Woonsocket, R.I. -- A report on Friday by the Wall Street Journal said that CVS Caremark CIO Stuart McGuigan has left the drugstore retailer, and will be holding the same position at Johnson & Johnson.

According to the report, originally published in CIO Journal, McGuigan will begin work later this month at J&J.

McGuigan joined CVS Caremark in 2008, and oversaw the post-merger IT integration of CVS and Caremark following their deal, which was completed in early 2007.
 

New York -- The ax has fallen at J.C. Penney Co. The company on Thursday laid off 600 workers from its corporate headquarters Plano, Texas, as its looks to streamline its business model amid a major reinvention of the business. The staff reduction, which equaled 13% to 14% of the headquarters staff, did not include any senior executives, according to The New York Times.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart is offering the women who work in the factories that supply its products the chance for a better life with lessons in such critical life skills as communication, hygiene, reproductive health, occuputational health and safety and gender sensitivity. The Women in Factories program, a five-year initiative will benefit 60,000 women working in factories in India, Bangladesh, China and Central America.