Macy's is furloughing the majority of its 125,000 employees

Macy's is furloughing the majority of its workforce amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, which it says has taken a "heavy toll" on business.

The company announced this step on Monday, saying it has lost "the majority of our sales" after being forced to close all of its stores due to the coronavirus pandemic, although online sales continue. As a result, the company said it's "moving to the absolute minimum workforce needed to maintain basic operations" and furloughing the "majority" of workers starting this week. Macy's employs about 125,000 people, per The Wall Street Journal.

Macy's said these employees will continue to receive health care coverage with the company covering 100 percent of the premium "at least through May," and "we expect to bring colleagues back on a staggered basis as business resumes."

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The Associated Press writes that this news is "perhaps the most dramatic sign that even big name retailers are seeing their business evaporate and that the $2 trillion rescue package passed by Congress last week may come too late to help out retailers." Data released by the Labor Department last week showed the number of Americans filing initial unemployment claims climbed to a record 3.28 million, shattering the previous high of 695,000. Brendan Morrow

Editor's note: The New York Times in a correction noted Macy's workforce is about 125,000 employees, not 130,000 as was originally reported. This story has been updated accordingly.