A TikToker who says she worked at Target in high school alleges that the company’s minimum wage increase from $15 to $24 per hour for certain positions is nothing but a “scam,” slamming their hiring and management practices as “modern-day slavery.”
In the clip posted by LáPam-Ela (@lal0ng) on Thursday, she says that when Target raised its minimum wage to $15 an hour in 2020, full-time employees at the Super Target she worked at were only scheduled to work 20 hours per week.
“Listen, do not believe Target. It’s a scam,” LáPam-Ela says in the video. “First of all, when they raised us to $15 an hour, they was giving people four hours a week.” She adds in the caption, “Don’t say I didn’t warn u!!”
LáPam-Ela also alleges that the staff was “micro-managed” and that the hiring process was discriminatory against people of color, saying that management only hired staff that “look their profile.”
“If you’ve ever noticed, Target be pushing people in and out. They don’t hire us. They don’t hire my people,” LáPam-Ela, who is Black, concludes at the end of the clip. “But trust and believe, it’s blonde hair and blue eyes coming in and out every single season.”
The clip garnered over 179,500 views since Wednesday, with users lamenting Target’s work culture in the comments.
“Target is a sweatshop with a Starbucks in the front. I said what I said,” one user said.
“I currently work there and the only way to get hours is if they like you tbh like I get 32 at least and some of my friends get 12 at best,” another user said.
“She right I worked there and when they raised the pay they cut the hours. I left shortly after,” a third wrote.
In 2019, CNN Business interviewed 23 Target employees who all echoed that their hours were scaled back in the wake of minimum wage increases and staff-wide pay raises. Three years later, employees are relaying frustration over scheduling cuts as the company’s minimum wage again increases.
The Daily Dot reached out to Target via email and to LáPam-Ela via Instagram direct message.
Update 1:10pm CT, March 16: The last name of the TikToker has been removed from this article due to privacy concerns.
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