#PAYUP

JCPenney has not agreed to #PayUp

5-15-21 – JCPenney files for bankruptcy, leaving suppliers and garment workers to whom the company still owes millions of dollars in the lurch and at risk of financial destitution, but not before paying out CEO Jill Soltau $4.5 million in executive bonuses. Garment factories are typically considered unsecured creditors and rarely get paid back in bankruptcy proceedings or only get a minimal amount.

3-31-20 – JCPenney cancels $23 million worth of orders in Bangladesh and an estimated quarter billion dollars globally, leaving suppliers in the lurch and garment workers at risk of layoffs and starvation.

GO TRANSPARENT

8-17-21 – JCPenney has not committed to The Transparency Pledge and, notably, it does not appear to publicly disclose even a basic tier 1 cut-and-sew garment factory list. Tier 1 transparency is the absolute lowest bar of compliance in fashion and since the company has yet to meet it, we have given JCPenney a “NO” under Go Transparent.

In addition to the above, to receive a “YES” for Action 3 on the PayUp Fashion Tracker, JCPenney must a) disclose its tier 2 (fabric mills), tier 3 (yarn and fiber mills) and tier 4 (raw materials) suppliers; b) disclose the wages of the lowest-earning workers at each factory and c) share audit and remediation reports publicly, and make these findings available to the garment workers in the audited factories.