CINCINNATI — After sending letters this week asking some frontline workers to return extra “Hero Pay,” Kroger says it will let affected employees keep the money after all.
An image of a company collection letter sparked outrage on social media Monday. The letter informed employees they were going to have emergency pay an employee was "overpaid" deducted from future paychecks.
Kroger asking workers to return some of the extra pay they received pic.twitter.com/WPtAsYRAOb
— steele (@laborseller) May 18, 2020
Kroger officials say these letters were sent out due to an “unfortunate payroll accounting error.”
“We’ve since instructed our payroll department to directly inform the small number of associates affected by the recent overpayments of COVID-19 Emergency Leave pay that we will not seek repayment,” a Kroger spokesperson tweeted Tuesday.
This was an unfortunate payroll accounting error. We’ve since instructed our payroll department to directly inform the small number of associates affected by the recent overpayments of COVID-19 Emergency Leave pay that we will not seek repayment. - Kristal H.
— Kroger News (@KrogerNews) May 19, 2020
On April 1, Kroger began offering workers “Hero Pay,” or $2 more per hour to its frontline workers. That has since been phased out and replaced with “Thank You Bonuses,” which the company will pay out in two installments May 30 and June 18.
Qualified full-time employees will receive $400 while part-timers will get $200 apiece.
