I worked for a local pharmacy (Bartell Drugs) until a couple months ago. Two years into working for them, they were purchased by Rite Aid, and it was all downhill from there. I was not paid properly on numerous occasions. There were lots of payroll/time card issues, that if I hadn’t caught, I wouldn’t have been paid for. This took the form of PTO not being applied properly, bereavement pay not being paid as agreed, holidays not being paid as agreed, 401(k) matches not being paid as agreed, pay raises not being implemented, and just straight up not being paid for time worked. Before Rite Aid bought Bartell’s, I had a couple issues like this, that were promptly handled. But when dealing with Rite Aid, they always tried to gaslight me, and blame me for them not paying me properly. Saying that miscommunications had occurred, and then dragging out compensating me properly. Vigilantly checking my pay stubs basically became a part-time job. To top it all off, I didn’t receive my final paycheck until a month and a half after I quit. When I brought this to their attention, they again made excuses and dragged out getting me the money.
I contacted the labor board, and they said since technically I have received all wages, there was nothing they could do. So I’m putting them on blast here. DO NOT SUPPORT A COMPANY THAT STEALS FROM THEIR EMPLOYEES.
There is no way I was the only one this was happening to. Most of my coworkers don’t check their pay stubs/401(k)s regularly. I did the math, and if I hadn’t caught all of these mistakes, I would have lost ~$4000. Rite Aid employs around 50,000 people. If they are doing this to even a fraction of them, that is potentially millions of dollars in stolen wages. This was just over the course of one year too. Extrapolate this out over decades, and that’s potentially billions of dollars in stolen wages.
Rite Aid bought Bartell’s for $95M. Money they probably only had because they had stolen it from their employees. Do not support them or any companies that they own.