Dollar Tree Federal Grand Jury Subpoena Overview:
- Who: Dollar Tree revealed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that a federal grand jury subpoena has been issued against it by the Eastern District of Arkansas.
- Why: The subpoena was filed in response to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration report from February that revealed a rodent infestation at a Family Dollar warehouse distribution center in West Memphis, Arkansas.
- Where: The federal grand jury subpoena was issued by the Eastern District of Arkansas.
The Eastern District of Arkansas has issued a federal grand jury subpoena against Dollar Tree Inc. to get more information regarding sanitation practices and pests at its facilities, Law360 reports.
Dollar Tree disclosed the subpoena to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The subpoena, it says, was made so the government can peruse records and documents “pertaining to pests, sanitation and compliance with law regarding certain of our procedures and products.”
The subpoena comes around a month after a report by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revealed a rodent infestation at a Family Dollar distribution warehouse in Arkansas. Dollar Tree owns Family Dollar.
“We intend to cooperate fully with the subpoena and any related investigation; however, no assurance can be given as to the timing or outcome of this matter,” Dollar Tree said when disclosing the subpoena.
A total of nine class action lawsuits have already been filed against Dollar Tree in the wake of the FDA’s report, with the company saying in its SEC filing that it expects more to come.
Dollar Tree also told the SEC that the West Memphis distribution center where the infestation occurred and some of the affected Family Dollar stores have been temporarily closed for “extensive cleaning.”
Family Dollar Conditions Reported to FDA By Consumer
The FDA investigated the distribution center after a consumer complaint alerted them to potentially unsanitary conditions at the facility, which it discovered contained both living and dead rodents, rodent urine and feces,and dead birds, among other things.
Further, a fumigation of the facility in January resulted in 1,100 rodents found dead inside the facility, according to the FDA.
Family Dollar stores in Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana and Mississippi all received products from the West Memphis facility.
The retail store would go on to issue a voluntary recall on Feb. 18 for some products sent directly to the stores from the affected facility, including cosmetics, pet food and medicine.
That same month, a class action lawsuit was filed against Family Dollar by four customers claiming the company violated federal and state consumer laws by selling products contaminated from the rodent infestation.
Have you shopped at a Family Dollar location that is or was temporarily closed due to the rodent infestation at the Dollar Tree distribution center? Let us know in the comments!
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19 thoughts onDollar Tree Reveals Federal Grand Jury Subpoena Following Family Dollar Rodent Infestation Report
I was a store manager from 2018 to 2021 at a Dollar Tree in the Chattanooga, Tennessee area and I have pictures and videos of rats the size of dogs that were all over my store/stockroom, and corporate did absolutely nothing about it except blame me, as well as my staff. They expected us to bleach the walls twice a week, rearrange freight and look for rat, nests and droppings and clean it up and then re-stack the boxes in a certain manner on top of pallets were, they weren’t touching the walls, which that doesn’t help when it comes to roof rats. And it was absolutely impossible to do, especially since we were getting 2500 piece trucks with no extra payroll get in, they expected us to literally work around rat nests, we were told to hide any evidence of rodent infestation and lie to customers, I was forced to sign an arbitration agreement, they came up with a new one I believe in 2020 and I held out as long as I could without signing it until I was threatened by my district manager who told me I would be fired if I did not sign the arbitration agreement that very same day, and like a moron, I did bc I have grandsons to care for, I have so many pictures and so many videos, and I am planning on seeking legal action for the unsanitary working conditions as well as product we were selling to customers, product I had to throw out when I caught it with the holes in it so customers wouldn’t get sick, which lead to high shrink in my store, because of all the wasted product that was coming in off of the trucks with big holes in it from rats getting into it, (as well as the rats coming off of the trucks, joining my huge rat family that had been populating for approximately 10 years +), so I got reprimanded many times for having a high shrink store even though they were well aware of the issues, and even the Terminix man said he was at his wits end, and didn’t know what the hell to do because nothing was going to stop them and get rid of them completely unless the entire store was shut down for months with professionals, not associates, but of professionals coming in and doing deep cleans a few times as well as patching up every single hole in the building, not just my store, but the entire shopping center too, I was forced to work while having Covid because again, I was told that I would be fired if I didn’t get my ass to work, and no one did a cleaning on the store, knowing that myself and others have been infected, and I typically worked 75-80 hours a week due to having to complete my normal store manager tasks as well as associate tasks because we were never given enough payroll dollars and we didn’t pay associates anything more than $7.35/hr, and expected them to do slave labor, and I could not bring myself to do that to them, so it left me with doing a LOT on my own, and there were many times when I slept in my office at night because I was afraid I wouldn’t wake up in the morning because I was so exhausted from working 18 hours. I could go on and on. And again, I have so many pictures and videos and they will come out and the public will see everything. I don’t care how cheap their merchandise is, the whole entire company, or rather, both companies, dollar tree, and family dollar, need to be SUED TIL THEY HAVE NOTHING BUT SHAME AND REGRET, and all stores need to be shut down permanently. PERMANENTLY!!! ALL of the stores because this is not just in family dollar stores, this is not just in Memphis, this is in every single store, and I have proof of that as well. There are so many health, safety, OSHA, fire codes, labor violations, etc., not just going on, but being totally ignored by corporate, while they abuse their associates and management, and punish them when they (corporate) get in trouble. I could write a book and become rich due to the hell they put me through and sooo many others, and they continue to do it, and they continue to get away with it, and they have no remorse, no regret, they are not worried about anyone’s health or safety, and I guarantee you no one in corporate office buys any of their own junk because they know it’s junk and they know that it more than likely has been covered in rat urine and God knows what else. And they would deserve every bit of hell that came with me exposing them because of the way they treat their people which, by the way, employees are not “people” to them (corporate) and my psychotic, twisted district manager told me to never think of associates as “people;” they were to be thought of as a means to get the job done even if it’s half ass because half ass is better than nothing, which makes me sick to my stomach to even think about. This could turn into a book right here, so I’ll just leave it at that. If anyone wants to contact me, hopefully, if you leave a reply, I’ll get it.
Oh… and I may still write a book…. There’s a LOT to tell….
How can I sign up for this settlement?
Add me yes I’ve shopped in family dollar that was temp closed because of rodent problems
I don’t know why but every dollar store has that weird smell inside the only store that smell like weird plastic or stuff in the 99 cents only store the other day i walked in to get something fast and it smelled like stuff strong chemicals mix with plastic
Beyond ridiculous. I buy from there weekly but not after I saw the news. Add me please.
Add me disappointing
please add