Philadelphia makes Target pay workers $22,000 for violating law

Target paid nearly 70 employees a total of $22,450 for violating the Philadelphia’s Fair Workweek law, the city’s Office of Worker Protection announced last week week.

It was the first time the city ordered an employer to pay damages for violating the yearold law, which mandates more consistent schedules for retail and fast-food workers at corporate chains.

These low- wage workers said they struggled to plan their lives around last-minute, erratic schedules, while corporations said they needed flexibility to schedule workers in response to the ebbs and flows of business.

Target broke the city’s law by not posting weekly work schedules two weeks in advance on several occasions at its Broad and Washington store in South Philadelphia, according to the city’s April violation letter to Target. Since then, all affected workers have been paid and the case has been closed.

Target’s starting wage is $15 an hour.

Target did not respond to a request for comment.

One of the workers who got a $350 check was Carolyn King, who had reported Target to the city’s Office of Worker Protection in June 2020.

Ms. King used to work at the Target as a human-resources staffer, making $15 an hour. As part of her duties, she’d set the schedule but it had to be approved by the store manager. After months of back and forth with the store manager about the new Fair Workweek law, she said, she felt her only option was to report Target to the city.

Ms. King, now 29 and on leave from Target as she attends Temple law school, was happy to see the city had finally finished its investigation.

Target’s actions baffled her. “I am the lowest level of an employee at Target,” she said, “and if I am able to grasp this, then surely management should be able to grasp this.”

Fair Workweek — one of several worker protection laws on the books in Philadelphia — took effect in April 2020, weeks after the city went into coronavirus lockdown and retail and fast-food workers lost their jobs. Since then, the Office of Worker Protection has received 24 complaints that allege violations of the law, spokesperson Candace Chewning said. Five cases had been closed so far, resulting in two violations.

Employers covered by the law are required to post a Fair Workweek flier in the workplace, but Ms. King said her coworkers often came to her with questions about their rights because it’s a complicated law and the flyer wasn’t as clear as it could have been.