BY LISA BIANK FASIG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Dillard's Inc., which completed the acquisition of Mercantile Stores Co Inc. in August, plans to close the McAlpin Co. Warehouse in Sharonville in mid-November, dismissing 103 workers.
The move will follow by about a month the expected shuttering of Mercantile's corporate headquarters in Fairfield, resulting in about 1,000 lost jobs. It also comes as Dillard's continues the difficult process of assimilating the largest company it has ever acquired.
According to records filed by Dillard's with the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services, the warehouse will close Nov. 15. Jobs lost include 82 production associates and 10 credit clerks. The headquarters is scheduled to close as early as Oct. 13.
The warehouse closing doesn't come as a complete surprise. Before Mercantile's takeover, the facility was being geared to supply merchandise for a developing catalog of upscale home furnishings. Dillard's, which has its own catalogs, ended the project with the takeover.
It is the latest of many operational phase-outs at Mercantile as Dillard's consolidates its operations. At the headquarters, some employees have been told to work in the stores -- at the same pay -- as their corporate jobs were eliminated.
At the stores, positions such as in-house security and personal shoppers are being erased because Dillard's hires off-duty officers and does not use personal shoppers.
Dillard's spokeswoman Julie Bull confirmed that some corporate workers are in the stores. She referred other questions to Dillard's legal counsel, which did not return calls.
Workers at McAlpin's stores have been complaining about the loss of personal days and general confusion as they await Dillard's next move.
An example of the communication block involves corporate workers in the stores. If the workers fill the positions until the corporate offices close and then are dismissed -- as expected -- they will receive severance. If they are offered permanent jobs at the stores, they fear they must keep that job or lose severance.
If workers do lose severance, there is little available legal recourse outside of suing. David Garrick, spokesman for the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, said neither the state nor federal governments regulate severance.
"They (Dillard's) can do whatever they want," he said "There's just nothing in the law that addresses severance pay."
Mercantile's other nearest warehouses are in Louisville and Lexington.
