Both Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and United Parcel Service Sunday denied they have stopped paying their employees who were left out of work in the U.S. Gulf Coast region devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
The New York Times reported Sunday that both had stopped paying affected employees entirely because of the storm.
"We did not stop their salary because of the storm," Wal-Mart spokeswoman Andrea Rader told Reuters.
She said employees of affected stores, whether or not they had been scheduled to work, were receiving "prorated pay" at various levels. Affected employees were also immediately eligible for a $250 cash payment and could fill out a form to receive another $750, Rader said.
UPS said half of its 2,200 employees at affected facilities in the region were already back to work, but of the rest, "we've got several hundred, quite frankly, who we haven't been able to find yet," spokesman Norman Black said.
Black said the company sent paychecks for last week to employees it had been able to find and was offering them no-interest loans.
Both companies also said they are putting displaced employees to work wherever they may have been evacuated.
The other company cited in the Times story was McDonald's Corp. Spokesman Walt Riker confirmed employees were not receiving salaries at the 130 or so restaurants closed by the storm but said the company was focusing on housing assistance and other measures for displaced staff.
