By Joshua Huff, sports editor
While millions will settle in with family and friends this Thanksgiving, a large portion of the country’s workforce will spend the holiday working chest deep in the holiday shopping rush.
For employees that work at Walmart, that means working long, grueling hours as nearly 165 million shoppers expected between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday flock to stores in search of deals. And Walmart, flush with gratitude, will now gift their employees special discounts of up to 15% to shop at the very store they work at in lieu of holiday pay.
In a story published by The Guardian, the retailer confirmed the discounts.
A flyer shared by an employee shows that the giant retailer will offer employees a 10% grocery discount that runs through Nov. 21, 2019, to Jan. 3, 2020. For an employee to receive the 15% additional discount, they will have to work all scheduled shifts from Nov. 27 through Nov. 30. Any employee that calls in or uses protected paid time off will not receive the discount.
In addition, Walmart will also give its employees who work on Thanksgiving a free dinner.
Walmart is just one of a few companies that does not offer employees increased wages for working on a holiday. Those who work for Target are paid time and a half for each hour worked during a holiday.
The family that owns Walmart, the Waltons, is ranked as one of the wealthiest in the world. They have an estimated net worth of $190 billion.
Walmart will operate regular hours on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, though the retailer is closed on Christmas.