Mattress Bathtub & Beyond logo is viewed on the shop in Williston, Vermont on June 19, 2023.
Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Photography
WASHINGTON — Household items retailer Mattress Bathtub & Beyond is facing scrutiny from Democratic lawmakers for allegedly evading severance pay for hundreds of employees laid off after its present financial rupture.
The company, which has spent $11.8 billion in inventory buybacks for its executives since 2004, is “failing to treat retail employees with dignity within the financial rupture process,” fixed with a letter to Mattress Bathtub & Beyond CEO Sue Gove from Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Cory Booker of Unique Jersey.
The lawmakers say Mattress Bathtub & Beyond denied some workers severance pay after it filed for financial rupture in April and started closing stores and shedding workers. Other workers had been denied 401(okay) suits for contributions after receiving misleading guidelines, the letter states.
The failed broad field retailer also announced layoffs of 1,295 employees a day before an April 10 Unique Jersey law went into scheme, successfully dodging the law that provides enhanced protections to laid-off workers, the letter claims. The company later reversed course after public stress and issued one week of severance for each year worked to those affected employees.
Mattress Bathtub & Beyond did now not today return inquire of for touch upon the lawmakers’ letter.
For loads of years, Mattress Bathtub’s exchange had been crumbling as it did now not adapt to the rise of e-commerce and retain with opponents like Amazon. As the retailer reported sagging sales and announced plans to shut stores and decrease workers, it took on extra debt to purchase aid inventory in a repeat to raise its fragment label.
A file $230 million in buybacks modified into once bought over three months on the foundation of 2022, most attention-grabbing months before retailer closures and layoffs started.
“In consequence, the employees who ran your exchange, staffed your retail stores, and fulfilled online orders are being compelled to shoulder the brunt of the losses, whereas shareholders and some executives stroll away unscathed,” the lawmakers wrote.
Warren, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, and Booker asked Mattress Bathtub & Beyond to determine to offering severance to its workers and for detailed recordsdata on its severance protection, inventory buybacks and dividends and diversified connected factors. The Democrats asked for a response by July 19.
