Radio Shack fires 400 employees by email

Getting fired is traumatic enough, but imagine getting fired by email. Radio Shack emailed layoff Tuesday morning to 400 of its workers at the Forth Worth Texas headquarters. The company had warned on 10 August that it would cut hundreds of jobs.

Employees were warned that the job layoffs would be sent via email. Hourly workers received up to 16 weeks of severance pay, while higher-paid salary workers were given 36 weeks.

Once an electronics giant selling circuit boards and transistor radios, Radio Shack is having tough time competing against more modern stores like Best Buy and CompUSA. A few years ago it tried to reinvent itself into a hipper mobile phone store, but it continues to lose money. Several hundred stores have closed in the past years.