TARGET is in the middle of an ongoing legal battle with select employees who argue they should be paid to walk.
While the walk is a requirement for their daily tasks, they claim that it should require additional compensation given its length.
Target has come under fire from select staff members (stock image)[/caption]
The staffers work on hourly wages at two larger distribution centers for the retail giant in New York, helping pack and ship products.
It’s true that the warehouses are exceptionally big — more than 31 football fields, or around 1.76 miles in length.
According to the lawsuit, the staffers filed against Target recently, that means that it sometimes takes them 30 minutes just to walk over and begin their shifts, per NewsNation.
Due to that aspect of their jobs and the extra time it takes, they claim that the retailer owes them thousands of dollars in back pay.
“Our clients filed this lawsuit for a simple reason: hourly workers in New York should be paid for all their hours worked,” Hugh Baran of Katz Banks Cumin, lead attorney in the suit, told Daily Mail.
Baran noted that the suit was filed by a current and former employee of Target that both worked together at a warehouse in Wilton, located around 30 minutes north of Albany.
Hourly wages at the warehouse range from $20 to 27, meaning annual payment is between $39,000 and $57,000.
The lawsuit argues that with the 30-minute walk added on, affected staffers would be looking at an additional $1,000 to $2,000 each year.
“Hourly employees of the warehouse are required to walk long distances — up to approximately half a mile — to and from their assigned departments,” the suit claims.
“These warehouses are enormous industrial sites.”
The suit also has yet to be made class-action, and only affects New York-based workers.
The U.S. Sun has contacted Target for comment.
Target has had a challenging year in 2025 thus far for several reasons.
Sales have been a struggle in particular, with the retailer citing stagnant or declining same-store sales for the last 10 fiscal quarters in a row, per The Wall Street Journal.
What is Target Circle 360?
In April, Target launched its first-ever paid membership program, Target Circle 360.
For $99 a year, members get access to the following perks:
- Unlimited, free same-day delivery on orders over $35
- An extra 30 days to return your items
- Free two-day shipping on 100,000s of items
- 5% off in-store and online
- Automatic deals and exclusive partner perks
A companywide survey in June also found that 50% of Target employees didn’t think the company was making the right decisions to compete in the current market.
DEI DECISION
This is on top of widely reported and ongoing boycotts that first began in January after the company decided to roll back some diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
In a memo sent out to staff, it was confirmed that Target’s three-year goals for DEI would end, along with any reports to external companies like the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, per CNBC.
Target also moved away from a program designed to help it carry more products from Black and minority-owned businesses.
“Many years of data, insights, listening and learning have been shaping this next chapter in our strategy,” Kiera Fernandez, Target’s chief community impact and equity officer, explained.
“And as a retailer that serves millions of consumers every day, we understand the importance of staying in step with the evolving external landscape, now and in the future — all in service of driving Target’s growth and winning together.”
PRICING PROBLEM
This summer, changes have continued, most notably to the price match guarantee program.
Customers are no longer allowed to get prices matched based on competitors’ listing, only those that are within Target itself, according to an internal memo leaked in a thread on Reddit.
This sparked significant backlash from some longtime customers.
“If they don’t price match, I’ll just go to the store that has the cheaper prices,” someone fumed.
“It also affects loyalty. The moment we have to tell them we can’t match something, they’re going to remember that,” an employee chimed in.
Target even recently ended its longstanding partnership with Ulta Beauty, meaning the smaller sections in about 600 locations will likely vanish by the end of next year.
Target has also found a new CEO in Michael Fiddelke, who has promised at least three crucial adjustments in 2026.
