Some Walmart employees are complaining that they cannot afford the new dress code that the company is requiring them to wear beginning September 29.  Employees were given the option to either use their own clothes if those fit the new uniform description, or use their 10 percent employee discount to purchase new clothes on the Walmart website.

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However, employees have taken to website forums to complain that as one of the lowest paid workers in the United States, they simply cannot afford to purchase the new mandatory uniforms out of their own pockets.

According to labor activists, full-time Walmart employees only earn an average of $12.92 an hour. However, most of their workers make even less because a majority of those employed at the store are part-timers.

Meanwhile, Walmart reportedly earned a net profit of $4.09 billion in its last quarter, prompting many to suggest that the company should shoulder the costs of the new uniforms for their employees.

Richard Reynoso is one such employee from California. He wrote to Walmart headquarters to explain his situation as an associate who earns only $800 to $900 a month--a minimum wage his entire family depends on to survive.

In order to purchase all the required new clothes from the company website, even with his 10 percent discount, he would need to spend at least $50. This means that he will have to choose which of his bills to skip payment on for that month.

He would like the new policy to either be dropped, or for the expenses for the new shirts and pants to be covered by the company. In doing so, he and many others like him will not need to sacrifice their everyday needs.

Walmart has explained that the reason for the new dress code policy among its employees was due to customer feedback. Patrons of the store claim that it was difficult to distinguish between store employees, who wear blue shirts and khaki shorts, and other customers wearing a similar attire.

Furthermore, company spokesperson Kory Lundberg said not to put too much weight on the complaints regarding the new uniforms because their own internal feedback from associates around the country revealed that the complaints are supposedly in the minority.

He said that most employees were looking forward to the changes to the dress code.

TagsMinimum Wage, Dress Code, Uniforms, Walmart