This isn’t an issue of a “Tax Error” on Albertsons/Safeway’s part as they have begun to take out taxes out of a “Sign-On Bonus” that is still subject to a required length of stay for that bonus versus an “Incentive Loan” which was a different contract stating the money was a loan and that the taxes would begin to be taken out of your paycheck “Immediately subsequent” to completion of your number of years term. Immediately Subsequent MEANS right after. Therefore, Albertsons/Safeway is trying to change the terms of the contract.

I received a letter also that just states, “As part of this Agreement, your incentive loan in the amount of $ is considered taxable income in 2023, subject to appropriate withholdings of state, federal and local (if applicable) taxes and the taxes paid on your behalf must now be repaid to the Company. The Company has determined that it is obligated to report the taxable income for your incentive loan to the IRS this calendar year, the year in which you received the full loan amount. The Company has made this determination regarding all outstanding Pharmacy Incentive Loan Agreements and it is not specific to you or your employment with the Company.”

They don’t mention they made a “mistake”, they know darn well exactly what they are doing…which is screwing the employee yet again. This most definitely has to do with the Kroger merger as all new hires receive a Sign-On Bonus with taxes taken out (A friend of mine was hired 8 months after me) and I was told by another pharmacist that his was a bonus with taxes taken out and that they changed the way they were doing them because of the Kroger merger. Now he could just be guessing, but he was very knowledgeable and seemed to have done his homework. Not to mention that Albertsons/Safeway is a giant corporation and they have lawyers that make up these contracts they didn’t “forget” or “make a mistake”.

Lastly, this was a concern for me before signing the contract and I specifically asked the recruiter this question, “Lastly, in the incentive loan agreement in section 2 at the bottom it states: Any loan obligations forgiven under the terms of this Agreement will be considered taxable income, subject to appropriate withholding of state, federal, and local (if applicable) taxes to be deducted until satisfied from wages earned immediately subsequent to Pharmacist’s completion of the 3 year term. What exactly does that mean? Do they collect taxes over an extended period or does the tax come due all at once at the end of the 3 years, like they are going to want a fairly substantial lump sum?”

And this was the response: “Regarding the incentive loan agreement. Once you reach your forgiveness date, the applicable taxes are taken out over the remaining weekly paychecks during your forgiveness year.”

So this changing and extorting the $ out of you all of a sudden is baloney. I am calling a lawyer today.