When clothing retailer Urban Outfitters Inc. has faced controversy in the past, it has been over the company’s potentially offensive or even intellectual property-infringing clothing choices. But the Philadelphia-based company recently found itself facing a different kind of uproar when a leaked memo asking workers to come in on weekends and “volunteer” at an Urban Outfitters warehouse was obtained by news and gossip blog Gawker.
It wasn’t long before the company faced public criticism for what looked to many like asking employees to do unpaid labor on their own time. But even though the leak quickly turned into a major public relations faux pas, it doesn’t appear that the company’s request actually broke employment laws. Even so, the incident shows that companies need to stay attuned to wage-and-hour issues in the workplace as well as the evolution of the law in this area.
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