BreAnn Scally started working at PetSmart because she thought it would help her build the skills she needed to one day open an animal rescue, her childhood dream. Growing up, she used to spend her days walking her nana’s dogs, sometimes dragging her blanket into their kennel to snuggle.
Scally, 24, got a job in February 2021 as a “bather” at a PetSmart in Salinas, Calif., hoping to become eligible for “Grooming Academy.” PetSmart’s website touts the “free paid training” as a part of a “career glow up,” with 800 hours of hands-on, supervised training “valued up to $6,000!”
She didn’t realize until months later, she says, that the papers she’d signed to start Grooming Academy and receive grooming tools had locked her into an agreement to stay with the company for two years, or else repay the entire cost of the “free” training.
Now Scally is suing the country’s largest pet retailer, in a complaint that alleges PetSmart traps aspiring groomers in an unfair arrangement that allows the company to profit off training and uses debt to discourage workers from leaving their jobs.
“The financial goals that I had, that I was so close to, they’ve become further and further from my reach because of this,” Scally said.
PetSmart said that it does not comment on pending litigation, but that it is “committed to supporting the professional development of our associates.”
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