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Target employees are complaining of receiving lower wages despite the company’s recent move to raise hourly pay.
In 2017, the retailer promised to raise its minimum wage from $10 to $15 hourly by 2020. This raise was in compliance with a new law that required companies to give a $15 per hour minimum wage by 2024. In June this year, Target employees’ wage has been raised to $13 per hour.
However, some employees complained that even with higher wages, their overall pay has become lower. This is because the company decreased the number of hours that employees are required to work. Aside from resulting in a lower total monthly income, the fewer hours also made employees ineligible for health insurance benefits.
To address the complaints, a Target representative maintained that the employees are working around the same number of hours this year as last year. However, the company did not give data backing up this claim.
On the contrary, some of the company’s supervisors confirmed what the employees said and gave reasons for the fewer hours. They told employees that the managers had to lessen employee hours to keep wages within the company budget. However, other employees also blame the fewer hours on Target’s decision to hire additional temporary employees for the holiday season.
Most employees found the effect of the reduced hours devastating. One Florida branch employee said that her pay was no longer enough to make ends meet. A staff from Santa Clarita looked for a second job to supplement his income from Target. Another had to resort to resignation because she could no longer afford her daughter’s daycare with her new wage.