Former Dollar General employee speaks out

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) -As our investigation into Dollar General continues, a former manager is speaking out against the company.

She says the unsafe conditions are not something new but they continue to get worse.

“They are not a good company to work for. They are not good to their employees,” said Dawn Hughey.

Hughey is a former store manager at Dollar General in Michigan.

She worked there from 2009 until 2011.

Hughey says the unsafe conditions at DG stores across the nation have been going on for years.

Many of the safety concerns in the stores include rolling carts and boxes blocking the aisles.

Hughey says part of the problem is the overload of stock given to each store.

“We would receive Christmas merchandise in late June, early July and the small back rooms that most of the stores had was unable to hold all of that merchandise,” she said.

Hughey says this is why many of the stores are forced to keep stock in the aisles.

She added that there is often not enough staff to handle the amount of product sent to the store.

“It was always 3 part-time employees. We were told to not guarantee over nine hours a week,” Hughey said. ”With that many hours, it’s impossible to get everything done.”

Hughey says was injured while working in the store, rupturing several discs in her back, but she continued to work after being short-staffed.

“After I lost my assistant manager and key holder quit, I worked five weeks injured,” she said.

She later sued Dollar General for worker’s compensation and agreed to a settlement.

Dollar General has been fined more than $12 million since 2017.

Hughey believes the company is more willing to fork out the cash rather than fix the problem.

“Dollar General doesn’t care about things like that. They will pay the fines,” she said. ” As long as they are making money they are happy.”

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