TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Department store chain Pacific SOGO on Thursday (Feb. 10) rebutted reports that it’s sacking more than 200 workers amid profit loss from the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

CTWANT carried a report Wednesday (Feb. 9) that the leading retailer is downsizing its workforce nationwide, starting with layoffs in the southern outlets. The report suggested the department store giant “can’t hold any longer” despite saying it had no plans to fire people or implement pay cuts last year.

Pacific Sogo dismissed the story as “fabricated” without fact-checking and warned legal action. It did, however, confirm that the branch in Kaohsiung is undergoing business restructuring, and 28 employees have been let go, but were given a good severance, wrote Liberty Times.

In a Lunar New Year promotion event, Pacific SOGO Chairperson Sophia Huang (黃晴雯) said the Kaohsiung unit will be repositioned as part of a transformation plan. The Far Eastern-owned business doled out a year-end bonus equivalent to two to three months’ salary on average for 2021 and has enacted a 4% pay raise regardless of the pandemic battering the retailing industry, according to Liberty Times.