Forever 21 Denies Healthcare To Long Term Employees

By Sean Conners

Forever 21 bills itself as a “Christian retailer” but the way they treat their employees is anything but giving and compassionate. Image @ StyleMTV

Forever 21 bills itself as a “Christian retailer.” In fact, this Christian company even puts a little Christian code message on all of it’s shopping bags (John 3:16), which a company spokesperson is on record as saying is a “demonstration of the owner’s christian faith.” They have grown from humble beginnings in Los Angeles to an international shopping destination, with stores not only in the U.S. but also Europe, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East.

They are also no stranger to controversy. Going back just to 2001, Forever 21 was forced to settle out of court, pay back wages, etc., after being sued for systemically ripping-off employees. The company was also compelled to put in measures to prevent future products being made in sweatshops, as was happening at Forever 21’s facilities.

But, in the past decade, they have been the subject of not only ripping-off their employees, but ripping-off other designers’ clothes, even ripping-off other organizations’ successful marketing campaigns.   There doesn’t seem to be too many people Forever 21 won’t rip-off, based on their past.

In 2010, a Forever 21 security guard was caught on video (later put on YouTube) beating a deaf man after he failed to hear the store’s alarm go off.

Here’s the video:

In 2012, Forever 21 was once again caught shorting its employee wages. Some cases showing them rip off employees going back to 2004. So apparently, their initiatives to properly treat and pay their employees lasted less than a pathetic 3 years. Then it was back to ripping people off.

And in 2013, just this spring, an employee was fired by Forever 21 after telling her heartbreaking story of childhood abuse to a local media outlet. So much for “Christian values” being practiced at Forever 21.

If it wasn’t obvious before, it should be now that Forever 21′s whoring of Christianity is a sham. They aren’t demonstrating Christian values; they are advertising Christian values while they do the devil’s work.

But Forever 21 has managed to top all its past sins. This time, the “Christian” employer is demonstrating its values by cutting all its employee hours in an apparent ‘Obamacare” protest. So in one sweeping motion, the company is threatening to bust all its full time, non-management employees down to part-time.

Is Forever 21 losing money? If they are, they’re keeping it a good secret. Forever 21 is a privately-held company, so they don’t make public disclosures. But their most recent numbers put their annual revenue at about 3.4 billion. And the last time they announced their profit/losses, they bragged about making hundreds of millions in profits, this during a time when the rest of the country was going into recession. And indeed, Forever 21 is expanding, not shrinking.

So, of course, the natural move is to screw over most of your workforce (but only in the U.S., where they can get away with it) by telling them that Forever 21’s Christian values will be demonstrated by tossing them to the lions. The purging of the employees is no accident. Forever 21 is cutting the benefits for them at the end of this month, two months before they can begin signing up for the ACA healthcare exchanges, which, when tried in at least four different states so far, have saved consumer’s money. Which means they must go through the old, inefficient “COBRA” system, which is expensive, inadequate and generally regarded as a pain in the ass by many who have been forced onto it in the past. Of course, this is a huge reason why it’s being replaced. One can only presume the idea is for the employees to be “outraged” and wrongfully think COBRA is “Obamacare” and demand its repeal, just like good Pavlovian servants.

But Forever 21’s owners, Do Won Chang and his wife, Jin Sook Chang, whose individual worth is estimated at about 4.5 billion (yeah, with a ‘b’) dollars have decided the Christian thing to do is just that. Hardly a “brother’s keeper” kind of move, wouldn’t you say?  And even though the company is profitable and the owners have more than they can spend, rip them off some more, like they did in 2001 and 2004-2012. Choke their employees’ livelihoods like that guard did in 2010 to the deaf man who didn’t hear the alarm. And watch all the misery from their 16.5 million dollar Beverly Hills mansion in the lap of depraved decadence.

You can see Forever 21’s disgusting letter HERE and after you are done, you will certainly find better options to shop at than the very unChristian Forever 21.