J.C. Penney Offers Early Retirement to 6,000 Workers

J.C. Penney Co. is offering a voluntary early retirement program to 6,000 full-time employees, the company announced Feb. 24.

The program comes as part of J.C. Penney’s plan to close two distribution centers and up to 140 stores over the next few months.

“By coordinating the timing of these two events, we can expect to see a net increase in hiring as the number of full-time associates expected to take advantage of the early retirement incentive will far exceed the number of full-time positions affected by the store closures,” Marvin E. Ellison, J.C. Penney’s chairman and chief executive officer, said ...