![]() Rather, with even full-time workers struggling financially, they are far more often a pathway to poverty. For these workers, whether at industry Goliath Wal-Mart ( WMT) or at direct Juicy rivals such as Banana Republic and The Gap, retail jobs typically do not offer a living wage, let alone a leg up into the middle-class. Rather, it is increasingly the norm among retailers, which employ 1 in 10 New Yorkers and 1 in 9 people nationally. ![]() If these employees tell the same story, it is by no means one that is unique to Juicy Couture and Fifth & Pacific. The company said it is studying the potential impact of the health law, known colloquially as "Obamacare," but that it has yet to discuss with managers how the company will comply with the ACA. Last fall the company laid off more than a fifth of Juicy's workers. economic policies leaving families behindįifth & Pacific also said that the average hourly pay rate for part-time employees has risen since last year and that it has increased the number of full-time employees, relative to part-timers, across Juicy. Minimum wage a bad idea? Ask execs who pay more.Temp work raises long-term questions for economy."Like every other retailer, we face and respond to seasonal fluctuations." "Our hours for both full-time and part-time employees are consistent with comparable periods in prior years," said Jane Randel, senior vice president of corporate communications and brand services at Fifth & Pacific, in a written response to questions. Juicy Couture denies that it has recently capped or reduced employee hours, while acknowledging that business after the holidays tends to drop off, reducing the need for seasonal workers. ![]() "Some managers said, 'You can thank Obama for this'," said Ali Marshall, 22, a former Juicy cashier who earned $12 an hour until she was laid off in March, in relating one reason she says she was told when her hours were cut in half earlier this year. The story is also made more complicated by politics: Several ex-employees said they were told that the retail chain wasĬapping people's hours partly over concerns that workers might qualifyįor health benefits when the Affordable Care Act takes effect in 2014. Workers also said managers slashed hours for more highly paid personnel, who could earn upwards of $15 an hour, even as the company hired part-timers willing to work for $9 or $10 an hour. Juicy, a once trendy brand that has lost allure in recent years under the management of corporate parent Fifth & Pacific ( FNP), has in recent months pushed to replace higher-paid full- and part-time workers with part-time employees earning far less, they said. Simpson's experience and that of other current and former Juicy employees typifies the squeeze faced by workers across the retail industry. In March, only a few months after leaving school and after nearly four years at Juicy, she was fired for violating the company's lateness policy. I had bills and rent to pay, so I kept the full-time position and stopped going to school." "Then they gave me an ultimatum about dropping out of school or opening up my schedule. "I felt that was unfair because when they promoted me to full-time they said it was fine for me to go to school," she said. Unable to make ends meet on a part-timer's income, she reluctantly set aside her studies. ![]() It wasn't that store managers wanted her to work more hours - they just wanted her to be around in case they needed her. Then she said the company gave her a choice: Either make herself available to work more, which would require her to quit school, or go part-time, resulting in a big drop in pay. The 22-year-old was studying radiology at New York City College of Technology last year and making $13.50 an hour as a full-time cashier at Juicy Couture, in the women's apparel maker's Fifth Avenue store in midtown Manhattan. (MoneyWatch) Latoya Simpson did everything right - and paid the price. ![]()
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