Workers for retailer Target are criticizing their employer for finding their hours cut, leaving them struggling, even after they received a big pay raise.
In 2017, the department store chain announced that it would raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour, a welcome change for many lower-wage employees. But now that the pay scale has been implemented in most areas, some employees have found a pay cut instead of a raise because they have lost hours in the wake of the new wage increases.
CNN Business interviewed two dozen current and former Target employees including stockers, cashiers, and department managers.
One employee identified as “Heather” said she was given a dollar an hour pay raise, but lost $200 a month after her hours were cut. Heather went from working 40 hours a week to only 20 after the pay raise.
Another employee, Caren Morales, told CNN that she was getting good hours and adequate pay for months after hiring on, but just before her healthcare benefits kicked in, her hours were decimated. Morales said she went from between 30 to 45 hours a week to less than 20.
Morales said she was forced to quit because the job did not even cover the cost of daycare for her daughter.
CNN spoke to others and found similar stories.
A spokesman for Target said that employees are working “approximately the same number of hours as they were last year.” The company also claimed that employees are working more hours than three years ago.
Target did note that some employees are finding their jobs affected by “modernization” as duties evolve in the new era of retailing, especially cashiers who found hours cut after the company introduced an expanded self-checkout section in many locations.
The company also insisted that its workforce has been consistent over the past few years and that the number of employees eligible for healthcare is also holding steady, But the company did not provide any specific statistics to CNN.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.