A popular home improvement franchise has received a letter from Michigan’s Attorney General after engaging in unsafe business practices amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The Michigan Department of Attorney General received reports that Menards had been potentially endangering the health of both customers and employees by enforcing “marketing and sales practices designed to increase customer presence in their stores.”
The letter demands that Menards do the following:
- Cease any and all activities that run contrary to the spirit and intent of Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s Stay Home, Stay Safe order.
- Keep the number of workers on-site reduced to only those needed to perform specific operations.
Menards is currently allowed to remain open to the public, but its operations are restricted to only supply goods deemed “necessary to maintain and improve safety, sanitation and essential operations of a residence.”
“The current climate should not be viewed through the lens of business opportunism where dollars drive decisions over the good of the public’s health,” said Attorney General Dana Nessel. “We have asked that Menards cease any and all practices that run contrary to the spirit and intent of the Governor’s Stay Home, Stay Safe Order, including marketing sales to draw large numbers of the general public into their stores for non-emergency purposes.”
This is the second time the home improvement franchise has been sent a letter in the past month from the Attorney General’s Office. Menards received a cease and desist letter on March 17 that warned them against price-gouging.
