Sports Direct, the U.K.'s largest sporting goods chain that operates the Sportsdirect.com banner, has been lauded over the years for its generous stock incentive program for full-time employees. But now some are asking: What about the part timers?
With a favorable performance so far in its first half ended Oct. 26, Sports Direct last week said it expected to pay its full-time employees shares worth nearly £140 million as part of its bonus program.
A quarter of the bonus program — 20 million shares, worth £34 million at current trading prices — will vest to employees next September. That equals to £11,000, or $17,816, per eligible worker. The remainder vests in 2017.
The program builds on an earlier 2009 bonus program that paid out about £160 million in shares to 2,000 full-timers in 2013.
Sports Direct officials have noted that such stock awards are typically only reserved for executives. Sports Direct CEO, Dave Forse, said, according to the Daily Mirror, "These share schemes have played a vital part in our recent success. Other retailers are crazy not to have them."
However, while past articles around the bonus policy have portrayed Sports Direct as a model employer, many now focus on the fact that the majority of Sports Direct's 28,000 employees are part-timers and ineligible for the bonus.
In October, Sports Direct settled a lawsuit brought by 250 part-timers over the 2013 share payout. A Guardian article from earlier this year focused attention on Sports Direct's treatment of part-timers, saying they all work on "zero-hour contracts" with no guarantee of weekly hours. Union activists have seized on the issue.
Alison McGovern, the Labour MP for Wirral South, told the Guardian, "It seems quite bizarre that a company would on the one hand be awarding bonuses in this way, and treating other staff in a completely different way."
- Sports Direct staff to get £34 million bonus - unless they're on a zero hours contract - Daily Mirror
- Sports Direct: 90% of staff on zero-hour contracts - Guardian
- Sports Direct employs nine out of 10 of staff on 'zero-hour contracts' - Independent
- Working at Sports Direct is no fairytale for part-timers - Guardian
- Sports Direct faces action from zero-hours staff over bonus scheme - Guardian
- Sports Direct share price: Group settle zero-hours legal case out of court - Invezz