Hobby Lobby billionaire keeps stores open after 'God spoke to him' - but won't pay sick leave

[CatWoman]

Coronavirus: Hobby Lobby billionaire keeps stores open after ‘God spoke to him’ – but won’t pay sick leave

The US arts-and-crafts chain Hobby Lobby has said it will remain open during the coronavirus epidemic – but has also refused sick pay for workers who fall ill, including from Covid-19.

The chain is keeping some stores open in states that have not ordered non-essential retailers to shut down. In a letter to all employees on 19 March, founder and CEO David Green warned that times would be tough: “To help ensure our company remains strong and prepared to prosper once again when this passes, we may all have to ‘tighten our belts’ over the near future.”

Mr Green, a devout conservative Christian whose net worth is in the region of $6bn, also wrote that “I cannot adequately express how much I appreciate each one of you.”

However, in a March 23 memo to store managers seen by Business Insider, store operations vice president Randy Betts wrote that the business would “make every effort to continue working the employees”, and that sick workers will be expected to use their personal paid leave or take an unpaid leave of absence.

Much of the reaction to the revelations focused on the discrepancy between the Christian values expressed in the letter and the hardline payroll policies in the memo. Left-wing blog DailyKos, for instance, headlined its story “Hobby Lobby founder tells workers that God spoke to his wife and forgot to mention paid sick leave”.


https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/hobby-lobby-stay-open-coronavirus-staff-sick-leave-a9423491.html?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR1h-6aqHVsIKkzR4IeP9HOVnGTETtmjLSD6-XDWCbWp7UIZ0b3bdr7XgXM#Echobox=1585140032

[sakabatou]

1. Profits above people again

[smirkymonkey]

2. How "Christian" of him.

Rotten, miserable bastard. Seriously, why are all these so-called "Christians" such evil, hateful, horrible people? They really are.

[katmondoo]

3. I won't step a foot in that store and I use a lot of different crafts, Michaels only.

[AirmensMom]

4. I have never shopped there and never will.

They just built a new store near me. There's nothing they have that I want, particularly their hypocrisy.

[GemDigger]

6. They are putting one near me and I will go in to see what they have but I will NOT spend a single

red cent there.

The funny part is that they were supposed to open in January 2019 after a huge renovation to a standing building. Then Jan. came and went and July came and went and this last Jan. came and went. I head from the gossip mill is that they are having a hard time finding people who will work for minimum wage.

I laugh and laugh at the money they are losing. In March they announced a mid May opening and whammo I wonder what Covid is going to do to that.

A year and a half of rent with no income, an incredible amount of money spent on the renovations, and still no opening. Top that off with finding out their Dead Sea Scrolls are forgeries. Bahahaha!

[lpbk2713]

5. I went there once several years ago.

I was looking for a small bottle of Testor's enamel paint. I couldn't find it anywhere else so I thought I would give them a try. This was before I knew anything about them. They had it and I bought it. But their price was about double what I was expecting to pay. In retrospect, they probably had some on the shelf because no one else wanted to pay that price. If I ever need it again I'll get it online.

[procon]

7. Another example that religion is a gimmicky business,

and like all businesses, the primary goal is to make money. Whatever passes for christianity in the minds of these greedy, lying billionaires, it's definitely not the same one where a teacher named Jesus said, "Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

[Blues Heron]

8. More like Satan spoke to him