hallettj

Here’s a thread with basically the same question that has references to some specific laws: https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/1cbyw91/can_my_employer_mandate_where_i_shop_as_a/

That thread is in reference to Ohio. Replies call out Ohio labor provisions, and laws regarding rebate.

Here’s someone on Bluesky who does regular “three wins today” posts. But those are mixed with less positive news. https://bsky.app/profile/ariellaelm.bsky.social

I’m not a lawyer either. But going off the company store insight, maybe we can look to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. It prohibits paying wages in scrip, or “similar devices”. Scrip can take a couple of forms; one is an internal company currency that can only be spent at the company store. That provision in the FLSA was specifically intended to shut down company store scams.

It seems that an implied condition of your work is spending some portion of your wages at certain stores. Since scrip is money that can only be spent in certain places, it might be argued that if you are required to spend a portion of your wages in certain places, that has the same effect as paying a portion of your wages in scrip.

Unfortunately after a bit of searching I haven’t seen this specific argument made. But again, I’m not a lawyer, and I don’t know how to research case law. It sounds like they’re trying to claim this program in optional, so it might be challenging to prove that participation is de facto mandatory. I’m guessing if you could get someone to tell you a number for how much they expect you to spend in this program that would help with such an argument. On second thought, I don’t actually know how helpful a number would be, and I don’t want to get you in trouble.