Best Buy closes stores in Canada, doesn't bother to tell employees

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

http://consumerist.com/2013/01/31/be...-stores-today/

At some stores the employees arrived for work only to be confronted with locked doors and security guards.

[fireheart]

We had a similar scenario down here with a Mitre 10 (hardware store).

The employees rocked up to pretty much the same situation. Turns out that it was because the owner of the store/building owed someone around $300,000 in debt.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I know they're being showroomed to death and all, but that's pretty low.

[Pixilated]

That's inexcusable. I hope the customers (and former employers, when they find other jobs) who were caught without warning make it a point to shop elsewhere in future.

[Eevie]

How awful. It's not hard to drop a simple announcement of some sort for the poor employees. Hope everything turns out okay for them...

[TheSHAD0W]

Best Buy compartmentalizes their organization, and has been known to drop parts of it. They did so here in El Paso, with the sub-company going bankrupt and leaving many employees and contractors stuck without being paid. A new sub-company then opened a new store a couple of miles away.

[PepperElf]

i find it odd that no one knew.

the original talks about "right sizing" came out back in april or may last year. IIRC it was about culling some stores but opening smaller mobile stores etc.

[wolfie]

Obviously BB/FS has never heard about things like statutory minimum notice for layoffs.

[EricKei]

i find it odd that no one knew.

I suspect that salary-level people knew -- District/area managers? Absolutely yes. Store manger and AM? Yeah.

It could be that they just didn't tell the wage-workers, or worse, were INSTRUCTED not to tell them before a certain date. Not like they're gonna call a 15-hour-a-week worker at home to give them the good news x.x

My question is: What if the workers had items left in-store (in lockers) that they need to retrieve? What about customers' computers that were in for repair?

[It's me]

Obviously BB/FS has never heard about things like statutory minimum notice for layoffs.

There is no such thing here in Canada. However, if reasonable notice is not given then the employer must provide pay and benefits in lieu of the notification. The definition of "reasonable" is a bit fuzzy... there are legal minimums, but courts award settlements in excess of the minimum to allow for the employees years of service, difficulty in finding another job, etc. As such most companies off a reasonable amount up front.

Now I am in a quandry about whether to buy stuff at BB/FS... I don't want to support them, but I don't want more of their employees let go.

[Mike Taylor]

I know they're being showroomed to death and all, but that's pretty low.

Actually, we've gained some ground against Amazon since they started having to pay sales tax. But yeah, this was a jerk move. The US closures were given notice.