Rep. Lesser's Petition asks Lawmakers for 3X Overtime for Thanksgiving Day

Taking a cue from legislation just announced in Ohio, Connecticut State Rep. Matthew Lesser, D-Middletown, has created a petition on Moveon.org to require big-box retailers to pay employees triple overtime for working on Thanksgiving Day.

"These Thanksgiving Turkeys: WalMart, Macy's, Target, Staples and many other companies each year are forcing their workers to miss Thanksgiving with their families, often with no extra pay. Working Black Friday is bad enough!" the petition reads.

Lesser is frustrated with national retailers who open their doors on Thanksgiving — "moving Black Friday specials to Thursday" — as a way to increase sales. "I don't know what kind of office supplies you'd need on Thanksgiving."

"We need legislation to give workers the freedom to stay home with their families on Thanksgiving, or else give them triple pay if they have to come in to work," the petition says.

Lesser knows lawmakers cannot prevent retailers from opening on any day of the year but he thinks this proposal succeeds and gives employees a choice if they want to work or not and offer enough financial incentive to empower workers.

"We're hoping it will be enough of a pay boost that more people who do want to work can," Lesser says.

This week, Mike Foley, a Democrat representing Cleveland in the Ohio House of Representatives, says he plans to introduce a bill in the next several weeks requiring stores that open on Thanksgiving pay their workers triple time. It would also protect workers from repercussions if they choose not to work the holiday.

At the Capitol on Tuesday, Lesser, Rep. Peter Tercyak, co-chair of the Labor Committee, legislators from across the state, Lori Pelletier of the AFL-CIO, legislators, labor leaders and consumer advocates, and David, a Connecticut resident who withheld his name to avoid retaliation, talked about one retailer is forcing his family to celebrate Thanksgiving on Friday night, urging strong legislation.

Until 1998, no major retailers were open on Thanksgiving. Many retailers still choose not to open on Thanksgiving, including Costco, Apple and Nordstrom. This year is the first year that Macy’s, the Crystal Mall in Waterford, and others are opening on Thanksgiving, according to the House Democrats.

Other retailers are choosing to be open to offer ‘Black Friday deals’ the day before Black Friday. This is a new practice being done under the guise of a shorter holiday shopping season because of the late Thanksgiving holiday, a release from House Democrats reads. 

"This Thursday, I am looking forward to taking time off and being with my family. It’s outrageous that for many Americans that becomes less possible each year thanks to a few greedy retailers,” Lesser said. 

“I’m introducing this legislation to save the most American holiday we have and give families the freedom to choose to earn more or stay home with their loves ones."

See the Moveon.org petition here.

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