No Severance Pay to 5,000 Fluor Workers

Fluor Corp. disclosed Thursday that it will not provide severance pay or benefits to the 5,000 employees it will fire in the next nine months, a move that labor experts said could hurt the company in the long run. The international engineering and construction services giant will provide outplacement services to the workers, mainly engineers and other professionals, a spokeswoman said. Employees will be given at least two weeks’ notice before dismissal. About half of those to be fired work in the United States, including as many as 700 at Fluor’s corporate headquarters in Irvine, the company said. Fluor, which has more than 30,000 salaried employees worldwide, said earlier this month that it needs to slash operating expenses to offset a shrinking business base. Fluor shares fell $1.44 to close at $28.19 on the New York Stock Exchange.