PetSmart promises “free paid training” for dog groomers, but employees are stuck with $5,000 in debt unless they stay with the company two years, a California lawsuit alleges.

This practice violates a core tenet of labor and employment law that the employer pay for the cost of doing business, according to Rachel Dempsey of Towards Justice, a nonprofit that represents workers in litigation, who is one of the attorneys representing the groomer suing PetSmart. With Grooming Academy, PetSmart is effectively charging its workers for training while making money off the grooming jobs they complete in the process, Dempsey argues.

Read in The Washington Post.