September 28, 2015

Regulators OK Albertsons’ hiring of current Haggen staffers

Antitrust regulators on Friday gave the greenlight to Albertsons to ignore a yearlong prohibition to solicit former staffers currently employed with Haggen.

The move provides some hope for thousands of Haggen employees who face job losses as the Bellingham grocer seeks to liquidate most of the 146 stores it bought from Albertsons and Safeway in the wake of their merger.

 
The bar had been part of a deal struck between Albertsons and Haggen when the latter bought the stores. Haggen was seeking to protect itself from poaching by its much bigger rival.
 
The agreement still allowed Albertsons to hire Haggen staffers who had been laid off or otherwise left the company, as long as they hadn’t been actively recruited by the larger company.

But Haggen’s plans quickly unraveled amid a chaotic transition in which the new empire began to profusely bleed cash.

It began laying people off and cutting back hours in many of the new locations, triggering complaints and grievances from unions representing Haggen workers.

According to a document filed by Albertsons with the Federal Trade Commission, Haggen pitched the idea to remove the hiring bar on Sept. 3, five days before filing for bankruptcy.

But to do so, all parties — Albertsons, Haggen, and the FTC, which oversaw the companies’ deal — needed to sign off on the idea. Haggen told its employees on Sept. 17 that it was cooperating with Albertsons to seek FTC approval for the waiver.

A formal petition by Albertsons was introduced last Wednesday, according to a document filed with the FTC.

 
Late Friday the FTC said it approved the application on an expedited basis, skipping the usual 30-day public comment period, “to help employees of the divested stores more quickly find alternative employment.”

There seems to be one caveat in the waiver: it excludes pharmacists and pharmacy employees, according to the filing. The FTC, Haggen and Albertsons didn’t respond to a request for comment on that particular point.

Albertsons said in a statement it’s pleased at the approval, and that it looks forward to welcoming back into its stores many employees who “may have otherwise lost their jobs or been economically disadvantaged as a result of Haggen’s recently announced store closures.”

Haggen said in a statement that it’s “thankful the FTC will now allow Haggen associates and former associates to be rehired by Albertsons, and hopes that this development will help as many associates as possible who have been affected by store closures.”