A shift to a new payroll system at the grocery chain Kroger has left workers short on their paychecks and stirred up hundreds of employee complaints, according to a new lawsuit. A group of workers represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400 have filed a complaint in federal court seeking back pay and damages from Kroger. One plaintiff said he missed entire paychecks, while others said they weren’t paid for overtime or had unauthorized deductions made.
One worker said her contributions for her spouse’s health insurance were deducted twice from every paycheck for nearly two months, “resulting in the loss of hundreds of dollars.” The complaint alleges that some workers had to take out high-interest payday loans when their full wages failed to arrive. “Kroger has been made aware of these issues, but has failed to correct them,” the complaint states.
The lawsuit involves employees in Virginia and West Virginia who work under the Kroger brand (the company also owns Fred Meyer, Ralphs, Food 4 Less and other grocery chains). A spokesperson for the union said the irregularities began in early 2022 when Kroger moved to a payroll system workers know as “MyTime.” Since then, a complaint portal set up by the union has received over a thousand responses from workers, he said.
“It’s been a disaster,” said the spokesperson, Jonathan Williams. “We’ve had people who go weeks without a paycheck, some people who don’t have all the money in their paychecks, and people who are double-charged for things like health insurance, or taxed for [localities where] they don’t live. ... They’ve been messing up payroll big time.” A new employee in Charleston, West Virginia, worked 79 hours for the company last August and September, including 26 hours of training, and “never received any pay from Kroger.” She no longer works for the grocer.
One employee, Mike Papas, worked as a part-time cashier at a Fred Meyer store in Beaverton, Oregon. He said he first noticed he didn't receive a paycheck around Thanksgiving. "It's pay,--screw ups happen, so I figured this is a glitch or something is going on," Papas said. "I'll find out or figure this out." But Papas didn't receive that payment for two weeks. In the weeks to follow, he said he received incomplete payments, late payments and partial reimbursements with the subsequent paychecks.
"(Kroger) had this problem nationwide, it's inexcusable when people are trying to put food on their table and some are surviving paycheck to paycheck," Papas said. "If it wasn't for my family, I'd be hit a lot harder." At one point, Papas said he received what was promised to be a $500 gift card from the company in order to apologize for the payment issues. He said he checked its balance and the card had just $259 loaded onto it, a problem other Kroger employees reported as well. Papas decided to quit his job on December 31. "They were still messing up my pay, I was still having to chase down my pay on a weekly basis, and the hours I spent talking to management and sending emails — it was like having a second job," he said.
The employees' union says it has filed a number of grievances alleging the payroll snafus have violated its collective bargaining agreement with the company. It has also filed unfair labor practice charges against Kroger at the National Labor Relations Board. Matthew Handley, an attorney for the workers, said the lawsuit was filed because the problems have persisted and haven’t been adequately addressed. “The risk of glitches really shouldn’t fall on the employees,” Handley said of the payroll system. “These aren’t the highest-wage jobs out there, and if somebody misses a week of pay — never mind four weeks of pay — that can have some really devastating effects.”
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