Tiling a worthwhile project for the winter months »

Ellsworth Wal-Mart reduces seasonal staff

Posted Dec. 11, 2009, at 7:37 p.m.
Last modified Jan. 30, 2011, at 11:52 a.m.

ELLSWORTH, Maine — Some temporary seasonal employees at the local Wal-Mart store who were hired on a short-term basis to boost holiday staffing at the store have been let go, something that happens every year, a company official confirmed Friday evening.

The situation does not amount to layoffs, Wal-Mart spokeswoman Michelle Bradford said Friday, because the people were not considered part of the company’s permanent work force. She declined to address the issue of why the store determined weeks before Christmas that some seasonal workers no longer were needed.

An employee who identified himself as an assistant manager at the new supercenter but declined to give his full name said Friday that he was not sure how many temporary seasonal associates had completed their seasonal employment at the store. He said holiday business at the new supercenter, which opened this fall, so far may not have met the projections of the store’s staff.

When the 198,000-square-foot store opened in September, company officials said they planned to have more than 400 permanent employees at the store, more than double the amount who worked at the company’s now-closed smaller store nearby on Route 3.