After canceling holiday bonuses, CenturyLink has told employees it also is suspending merit raises this year.

Mark Molzen, CenturyLink spokesman, confirmed the suspension of the annual pay raise.

CenturyLink’s Mark Molzen

“CenturyLink, as all businesses, continually evaluates cost structure and business practices, and adjusts operations to meet the needs of the business,” he said. “As a result, we have made the difficult decision that there will be no merit increases given to employees in 2018.”

In November, CenturyLink confirmed that it was laying off more than 150 employees after the recent close of its $34 billion acquisition of Level 3 Communications. About 165 employees were impacted by the layoffs, including 37 in Louisiana, where the company is based.

“While we are confident we are on the right path to grow our company, we continually need to watch the fundamentals of our business, including revenue growth and expenses,” Molzen said.

Last month, workers were told they wouldn’t be receiving their holiday bonuses because of reductions in operating cash flow.

For the third quarter, CenturyLink’s profit was $92 million, compared to $152 million for the year-ago quarter, down 39 percent. Its operating revenue was $4 billion, down a bit from $4.4 billion in Q3 2016.

A Channel Partners reader who calls himself “Jimmy GotNoRaise” was quick to alert us to the news on Thursday, commenting on our website:

“Guess what just came out today?” the frustrated reader wrote. “No merit increases either now, which usually were given in March/April. CTL can buy billion-dollar companies, but can’t even throw a small bone to the employees doing the work.”