Kohl’s Corp. said on Friday the recent departure of a board director was related to a disagreement with the company — an abrupt change in stance from a day earlier and the latest sign of turmoil at the beleaguered retailer.
In a filing Friday, Kohl’s said the resignation of Christine Day from its board was due to disagreements over how the company responded to recommendations from a shareholder advisory firm on executive pay and board procedures. A day earlier, Kohl’s had said that Day’s departure wasn’t due to any disagreements related to company operations, policies or practices.
According to emails included with the filing, Day took issue with the earlier characterization of her departure. “There is simply no way the board could have interpreted my resignation as having no conflict issues. This was a deliberately selective edit,” Day said in an email.
Kohl’s said it “strongly disagrees with the assertions in Ms. Day’s emails.”
The acrimony adds more pressure to a retailer that’s struggling to turn its sales around following years of intense competition and changing consumer behavior. On May 1, the Kohl’s board fired its CEO, Ashley Buchanan, only months after he was hired after determining he had directed millions of dollars of business to someone he has had a personal relationship with, without disclosing the relationship. That person was Chandra Holt, whom he has been romantically involved with, Bloomberg News reported.
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In Day’s emails, which were attached to the filing, she took issue with the way decisions were being made at the company.
“Some people know more than others leading to board members feeling alienated, out of the loop, and worse — developing a culture where real discussions rarely occur,” Day wrote in an email early Friday morning.
“My departure from the Kohl’s Board is based on disagreements regarding adherence to protocols and processes which guide conversations and ensure full transparency and accountability,” Day wrote in another email Friday. “When mistakes are made, reflection of accountability and root causes should be rigorously examined, not smoothed over.”
Day, a former chief executive officer for Lululemon Athletica Inc., resigned from the board on May 5, just four days after Buchanan was fired.
