Personnel

Avon Products said Monday that it will cut another 600 jobs as it tries to reduce its spending. The company said most of the eliminated jobs will be in its corporate organization and its North American business. Avon had 36,700 employees at the end of 2013. Avon Products Inc. is the world's largest direct seller of cosmetics, but its sales have been steadily dropping. Under Sheri McCoy, who became CEO in 2012, Avon has cut costs, slashed thousands of jobs and left unprofitable markets. 

Dov Charney, the controversial CEO of American Apparel, was ousted Wednesday by the company's board of directors, who said the action "grew out of an ongoing investigation into alleged misconduct." The board voted to replace Charney as chairman and "notified him of its intent to terminate his employment as president and CEO for cause," according to a statement. "This isn't easy, but we felt the need to do what we did for the sake of the company," Allan Mayer, the company's newly appointed co-chairman, told The Times. 

Just six months after landing a big round of investment that valued One Kings Lane at $900 million, the online home decor retailer is laying off between 75 and 100 people, according to a person familiar with the plans. Some employees were notified of the cuts on Tuesday, this person said. The cuts will eliminate between 15 percent and 20 percent of the staff. A One Kings Lane spokeswoman declined to comment. In January, the online retailer announced a $112 million investment round led by Mousse Partners, bringing total funding to more than $220 million. 

After a series of gaffes entering the Canadian market last year, including high prices and a rushed expansion, Target took to the internet to issue an apology to its shoppers in The Great White North. In a YouTube video posted last week, members of Target's Canada team talk about their excitement to bring the bull's-eye retailer to the country, only to undergo a series of missteps — and criticism — when it opened more than 100 locations in a year. 

lululemon Athletica founder Dennis Wilson voted against the re-election of board members Michael Casey and RoAnn Costin, saying he found the board too heavily weighted toward short-term results. "I am concerned that the board is not aligned with the core values of product and innovation on which lululemon was founded," Wilson, who owns 27 percent of the the athletic-wear company, said in a statement. The yoga-clothing retailer has been working to regain shoppers' loyalty after it recalled one of its most popular

Roughly 1,300 American Eagle Outfitters employees are participating this year in the retailer's second annual AEO Better World Community Day. The operator of more than 1,000 stores throughout the U.S. and several international markets developed the community involvement initiative last year as a means to unite employees for a common cause to make a difference at the local level. The company designated Tuesday, June 10 as Better World Day.

Jan Singer, who has held executive positions at athletic shoe and apparel makers Nike and Reebok, has been named CEO of Atlanta-based shapeware maker Spanx Inc. Singer will join Spanx early next month, the company said. She's been corporate vice president of global apparel and corporate vice president of global footwear for Nike. Singer also was vice president and general manager of Reebok's women's business. Spanx announced in February that CEO Laurie Ann Goldman would be leaving. The former Coca-Cola licensing executive joined the company as top executive in 2002.

You've probably heard that a stunning 95 percent of the gains the United States economy has made in the years since the Great Recession have gone to the top 1 percent. What you may not know — but which plays no small role in explaining that phenomenon — is that most of the jobs created in the same time period have been low-wage, service sector gigs (or McJobs, as some people call them). In fact, according to a 2012 study from the National Employment Law Project, McJobs make up 58 percent of employment growth we've seen during the recovery.

Wal-Mart workers and union organizers say they'll hold strikes in more than 20 cities Wednesday in their campaign to raise wages. The job actions are timed in conjunction with Wal-Mart's annual shareholder meeting, which takes place Friday in Fayetteville, Ark., near the company's Bentonville headquarters. OUR Wal-mart, a group backed by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, helped orchestrate a candlelight vigil Monday night outside the Phoenix home of Rob Walton, Wal-Mart's board chairman. 

In one of his first public appearances as Wal-Mart's new CEO, Doug McMillon talked respectfully about its giant competitor Amazon.com, but explained why physical retail is here to stay. He also talked about how digital platforms and sales channels will become increasingly important to the retailer's business, including the need to improve its presence in digital media.