Big Brands Were Praised For Saying They Would Pay Store Associates During The Coronavirus Pandemic. Employees Say That’s Misleading.

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, big clothing brands, including Ann Taylor, American Eagle, and Anthropologie, shut their stores across the world but earned praise for announcing they'd pay their store employees during the closures.

But employees told BuzzFeed News that the companies are misleading them as well as the public.

Store associates ended up getting paid very little or nothing after stores cut their scheduled shifts before announcing the closures. And employees said the companies have failed at communicating with them during the pandemic.

“They’ve been misleading, manipulative, and...