Walmart is changing its dress code, but most employees can't afford the new look.
Since the attire change is called a dress code instead of a uniform, the cost falls on the shoulders of their minimum-wage employees.
The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers mandate a uniform to be worn while working to pay for said uniform. However, a simple dress code such as Walmart's (khaki or black bottoms and navy blue or white collared shirts) is not covered as a uniform under the act, according to Forbes.
The retailer who employs 1.3 million Americans, according to CBS News, is receiving a lot of backlash for not paying for the new clothes most of the workers will have to buy.
"Walmart employees are among the lowest paid in the entire country and right now," Judith Conti of the National Employment Law Project, a non-profit that advocates for low-wage workers, tells Market Place. "And Walmart is asking them to buy new clothes to wear at work."
However, Walmart spokesman Kory Lundberg said the retailer is buying the newly required vests that are to be worn over the clothes employees will be supplying themselves, reports CBS.
