Entire Staff at PA Family Dollar Walks Out

[bjl584]

This is fairly close to me.
I guess enough was enough

https://www.pennlive.com/life/2021/06/family-dollar-staff-in-garfield-quit-with-a-handwritten-note-on-the-door.html

Entire staff at Pa. Family Dollar store quits with a handwritten note on the door

Updated Jun 18, 2021; Posted Jun 17, 2021

By Deron Dalton | ddalton@pennlive.com

Sometimes, enough is enough. That’s most likely how the former employees of a Family Dollar in Pittsburgh’s Garfield neighborhood are feeling right about now. The staff posted a note in the window calling it quits on, CBS Pittsburgh (KKDKA-TV) reported on Wednesday.

The handwritten message on the door of the store read, “Staff quit! Y’all be easy.” The sign has since been taken down, and an employee called in from another store was the sole worker yesterday before locking up the store.

Customers were not happy, to say the least. “I’m very upset,” customer Emma Porco told CBS Pittsburgh on Wednesday. “During the past several months, it’s just been on a steady decline.”

Heather Berry was the manager of that Family Dollar in Garfield and was one of the two now-former employees to walk out on the store.

According to Berry, the district manager mistreated the understaffed staff. Hence, she decided not to complete her two weeks’ notice.

“There are no employees,” Berry told CBS Pittsburgh. “One-hundred-five hours every week. It’s too much, and he wanted me to be here by myself running two registers. This is a high-volume store.”

“It was about 102 degrees in there. When we got the storm the other day, the power went out and they wanted me to hold tight until the power came back on. The power didn’t come back on until noon the next day. This company is very hard to work for,” she added.

The CBS-affiliated reached out to Family Dollars’ corporate office. A spokesperson released this statement: “Our Garfield neighborhood store is open for business. We are not able to comment on the employment actions or status of individuals out of respect for their privacy.”

[disneysteve]

Good for them. People need to speak up and act when unreasonable expectations are being placed on them.

[ua_guy]

Couldn't agree more. If an employee doesn't find their work equitable with pay and benefits, or the law, then it's time to move on!

[disneysteve]

Couldn't agree more. If an employee doesn't find their work equitable with pay and benefits, or the law, then it's time to move on!

And I love that they all did it together. One disgruntled employee quitting isn't news but the entire staff quitting clearly is.

[Nutria]

out of respect for their privacy

A great shield for when you need to issue a press release but don't want to say anything.

[ua_guy]

A great shield for when you need to issue a press release but don't want to say anything.

I can only imagine legal ears perking up over the story. Working in 102 degrees. Working 105 hours per week. They may be having a word with OSHA and the state's labor agencies, reviewing payroll and policies.

[disneysteve]

A great shield for when you need to issue a press release but don't want to say anything.

I'm sure their attorneys advised them not to say anything as this is a legal action waiting to happen.

[Nutria]

I'm sure their attorneys advised them not to say anything as this is a legal action waiting to happen.

Absolutely, since there are employee privacy laws, but "yeah, a bunch of people quit" isn't covered by employee privacy laws. DG just doesn't want to say that, so hides behind employee privacy laws.

[disneysteve]

Absolutely, since there are employee privacy laws, but "yeah, a bunch of people quit" isn't covered by employee privacy laws. DG just doesn't want to say that, so hides behind employee privacy laws.

I think the spokesperson meant to say "out of respect for OUR privacy".

[Nutria]

I think the spokesperson meant to say "out of respect for OUR privacy".

LOL that's exactly what they meant.

[Like2Plan]

I can only imagine legal ears perking up over the story. Working in 102 degrees. Working 105 hours per week. They may be having a word with OSHA and the state's labor agencies, reviewing payroll and policies.

When I googled the OSHA temps, the guidance is frustratingly vague, "OSHA does not have a specific standard that covers working in hot environments. Nonetheless, under the OSH Act, employers have a duty to protect workers from recognized serious hazards in the workplace, including heat-related hazards."

https://www.osha.gov/heat/heat-index

This is baffling to me--I wouldn't even want to walk into a store that was 102 degrees for even a minute (as a customer). But, if they didn't have electricity, how did they even work the cash registers?

[bjl584]

When I googled the OSHA temps, the guidance is frustratingly vague, "OSHA does not have a specific standard that covers working in hot environments. Nonetheless, under the OSH Act, employers have a duty to protect workers from recognized serious hazards in the workplace, including heat-related hazards."

https://www.osha.gov/heat/heat-index

This is baffling to me--I wouldn't even want to walk into a store that was 102 degrees for even a minute (as a customer). But, if they didn't have electricity, how did they even work the cash registers?

The registers may have still had power.
When I worked in retail the POS systems were linked to a mainframe at corporate and ran on a separate power source.
No lights or HVAC, but they could still ring items

[ua_guy]

When I googled the OSHA temps, the guidance is frustratingly vague, "OSHA does not have a specific standard that covers working in hot environments. Nonetheless, under the OSH Act, employers have a duty to protect workers from recognized serious hazards in the workplace, including heat-related hazards."

https://www.osha.gov/heat/heat-index

This is baffling to me--I wouldn't even want to walk into a store that was 102 degrees for even a minute (as a customer). But, if they didn't have electricity, how did they even work the cash registers?

I doubt there would be many specific protections for retail workers, but yeah...a general duty to protect against heat-related hazards. In firefighting and other occupations, the guidelines are more specific.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

There's a Family Dollar in my neighborhood. The police and the neighborhood organization pretty much want to close them down because they will not hire security yet have to call the police over and over. My friend who works for the police department says that Family Dollar all over the city gets a huge number of police calls, including for armed robbery. Criminals know it as a place where they can get by with things. Even the parking lot has become a place for drug deals. Yii.

Before I knew these things I had noticed that the cashiers have to sort of police things. As customers come in, they give them a hard look down. Customers bringing in a bag (we are very urban; people commonly might have visited another shop first) are asked to leave it at the register. People are told to slip their hoodies down. People who don't stop at the register when leaving are asked if they have a purchase. Even as they check out one customer they look up to scrutinize each person coming and going from the store. I came to the store one day and the cashier was just returning from the parking lot having chased a man! Cashiers were more active in doing security than I've ever seen an actual security officer be.

Anywhere else, that kind of security enforcement by cashiers would probably be grounds for dismissal. My impression is that it is required at Family Dollar. They must give their potential hires some kind of test for how tough they can be, and all of them that I've seen have been women.... Putting my life on the line to keep a bar of soap, tube of deodorant, or a pack of T.P. from being stolen is not for me!