{"id":116833,"date":"2023-03-18T13:29:44","date_gmt":"2023-03-18T17:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=116833"},"modified":"2023-03-18T13:29:44","modified_gmt":"2023-03-18T17:29:44","slug":"letter-to-the-editor-how-corporations-are-trapping-employees-what-we-can-do-to-stop-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=116833","title":{"rendered":"Letter to the Editor | How Corporations are Trapping Employees \u2013 What We Can Do to Stop Them"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It may sound to some like a fair bargain. A prospective employer offers you a job and promises to train you with valuable skills. In return, you agree to stick with the company for a specific time, so another employer doesn\u2019t poach you once your training is complete. This is the premise of the\u00a0training repayment agreement provisions (TRAPs)<\/a>, or employment contract clauses, that demand company loyalty in exchange for job training.<\/p>\n

However, as many employees are experiencing, these increasingly pervasive TRAPs are often more coercive than career-boosting.<\/p>\n

As BreAnn Scally found out, the contract she signed with PetSmart to be a pet groomer locked her into two years of retail store work.\u00a0When BreAnn tried to leave the low-pay job that left her feeling unfulfilled, the company took her to court for the $5,000 they claimed BreAnn owed them for their in-house pet grooming training.<\/a><\/p>\n

At best, TRAPs have been described as a form of \u201cstudent loan debt.\u201d At worst, they have been described as \u201cindentured servitude.<\/a>\u201d\u00a0TRAPs leave employees stuck, often in multi-year contracts, unable to seek new opportunities outside their current job for fear of financial ruin.<\/p>\n

TRAP clauses were once only found in the contracts of high-paying jobs. Sadly, it is becoming more common to see corporations force prospective employees to sign TRAPs for lower-paying positions with high turnover rates in exchange for sometimes little more than internal training programs. Today,\u00a0nearly one in 10 U.S. workers is enmeshed in a TRAP.<\/a><\/p>\n

Earlier this year, state Rep. Sara Innamorato, D-Allegheny, and U.S. Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA)\u00a0released a report with the American Economic Liberties Project<\/a>\u00a0regarding abusive practices by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Among other recommendations, their findings called for the abolition of TRAPs in the health care network and in other corporate settings.<\/p>\n

Health care workers have been particularly susceptible to the sharp claws of TRAPs. For example,\u00a0hospitals are increasingly targeting TRAPS to nurses who have recently received their licenses, are immigrants, and live in areas where there is a health care monopoly and few other options for employment.<\/a>\u00a0Once they sign these burdensome contracts, health care workers often find themselves trapped in environments where they are increasingly understaffed, underpaid and overworked.<\/p>\n

The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau has already\u00a0launched an investigation<\/a>\u00a0into these \u201cemployer-driven debt\u201d schemes, and states like New Jersey, California and Colorado have begun to take steps to prevent TRAPs from being laid. It\u2019s time we also act to\u00a0protect Pennsylvania workers.<\/p>\n

We are joining several of our colleagues in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to introduce the \u201cProtect Workers from Training Provision Agreement Provisions (TRAPs) Act\u201d that would recognize all workers deserve a fair and safe environment without fear of financial retribution.<\/p>\n

This legislation would prevent the use of TRAPs\u00a0and investigate employers that use debt or the threat of debt as part of employment contracts.\u00a0This bill would\u00a0play a critical role in ensuring that companies retain employers because they offer a quality workplace, not because their workers cannot afford to escape.<\/p>\n

Join us in this effort to prevent employers from springing TRAPs onto workers.\u00a0Contact your state representative and let them know that you support legislation to prohibit the use of employer TRAPs in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

Contributed by:<\/strong><\/p>\n

State Rep. Tarik Khan, Ph.D., CRNP
\nD-Philadelphia<\/p>\n

State Rep. Sara Innamorato
\nD-Allegheny County<\/p>\n

State Rep. Donna Bullock, J.D.
\nD-Philadelphia<\/p>\n

State Rep. Roni Green
\nD-Philadelphia<\/p>\n


\n<\/span><\/div>\n

\n
Provided to TVL by:<\/div>\n
\n
\n
Megan Milligan<\/div>\n
Media Specialist<\/div>\n
PA House Democratic Caucus Communications<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It may sound to some like a fair bargain. A prospective employer offers you a job and promises to train you with valuable skills. In return, you agree to stick … Continue reading Letter to the Editor | How Corporations are Trapping Employees \u2013 What We Can Do to Stop Them<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116834,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5734,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-op-ed","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/TRAPS-contracts.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116833"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=116833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/116834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=116833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=116833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=116833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}