Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) sent a letter to Kroger on Wednesday, asking if the grocery chain plans to pay employees who say they were victims of wage theft.
Kroger employees recently filed a series of lawsuits claiming the company’s new compensation system left them without pay. As HuffPost recently reported, one union said it has received hundreds of complaints from employees about underpayments or unauthorized deductions.
Warren and Sanders told Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen they’d like some answers (full letter below).
“Given your company’s history of anti-worker policies and your continued attempt to push through a merger that would harm both consumers and workers,” the senators wrote, “we are writing to demand a full explanation of how workers you will be compensated. for any lost or delayed wages and how to prevent wage theft in the future.
In a proposed class action filed in federal court in Virginia, one Kroger worker said her health insurance premiums were deducted twice from her wages, while another said the company didn’t pay her time and a half for overtime. hours.
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The lawsuit alleges that these problems began last year with the introduction of a new payroll system called MyTime. A union official previously told HuffPost that the system’s implementation was “a disaster.”
Writing to McMullen, Warren and Sanders called the allegations “the latest example of your company’s outrageous pattern of increasing your profits by mistreating your employees.” They cited a 2021 survey by the Economic Roundtable, a nonprofit research group, that found more than three-quarters of Kroger employees said they experience food insecurity.
In recent months, senators have come under fire for the Cincinnati-based company as it seeks to merge with Albertsons to form the nation’s largest grocery conglomerate.
“Senators accused Kroger of an ‘outrageous pattern of increasing profits by mistreating its employees.’
The companies may have to sell some stores in certain markets in order for the company to obtain regulatory approval from the Federal Trade Commission. Several members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union said the merger would eliminate union jobs and leave companies with less money to invest in stores or lead to a crisis.
After fending off some legal challenges from state attorneys general and consumers, Albertsons went ahead with plans to pay a $4 billion special dividend to shareholders as part of the deal.
Warren and Sanders have publicly opposed the merger and reiterated their concerns about Kroger in their letter, also signed by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
“This merger would exacerbate corporate consolidation in the grocery industry and likely lead to nationwide store closings and layoffs at both Kroger and Albertsons,” they said.
The senators also sent a copy of the letter to FTC Chairwoman Lina M. Khan.
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