Pet supplies delivery brand Chewy is under fire after a recent viral TikTok shows employees at work being harassed during their break “to go back to work” with a cowbell.
The TikTok video was created by apparent Chewy employee @kearyalaniz, gaining over 1.3 million views, 83,700 likes, and over 9,000 comments.
In the TikTok video, the text overlay reads:
“This is what Chewy does to their employees!! Rings a cowbell at them to force them back to work before their break is even over with. #Chew #ChewyDelivery #BoycottChewy”
Viewers can see and hear audio of the Chewy employee and manager going back and forth regarding break times and why management thinks it’s OK to ring a cowbell to notify other employees at the end of their break. Many viewers expressed their anger and disagreement with the supervisor’s tactics.
“It’s 30 minutes of UNINTERRUPTED break,” commented @alejandra554.1, receiving 10,300 likes.
“@chewy so you view your employees as cattle 😬,” questioned @poisedmoney.
“If someone rang a bell-like that during my break, that bell would be going up where the sun don’t shine,” expressed @helpdeskconfessional.
According to the Houston Chronicle, “Federal law does not require breaks and meal periods, but many states have labor laws that contain provisions for mandatory rest periods for breaks and meals, making it unlawful to require that employees work a straight shift of eight hours. The state laws vary.”
The clip comes amid a nationwide push for unions at private companies such as Starbucks and Amazon.
The clip is another example of employees being more vocal about work culture and toxic work environments.
The Daily Dot has reached out to @kearyalaniz via TikTok comment, and Chewy.
