PetSmart Investors Prodded by Labor Group Over Worker Safety
- Report accuses PetSmart owner of worker, pet safety lapses
- Public investors asked to pressure BC Partners on issue
Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg
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A worker rights group that has gone after KKR & Co. and Thomas H. Lee Partners over the treatment of retail employees is now setting its sights on BC Partners’s PetSmart Inc. chain.
In a report sent to public investment firms this week, the group, United for Respect, asked for help securing hazard pay as well as better safety protocols, paid time off and severance benefits and a larger vaccination incentive for employees. It accused the pet supplies retailer of providing inadequate training, staffing and personal protective equipment, conditions that led to hospitalizations and deaths of pets and excessive Covid exposure for workers.