PetSmart used dog grooming school to ‘trap’ employees, Colorado says

The state of Colorado sued PetSmart on Tuesday, accusing the national pet store chain of tricking 106 of its Colorado employees into enrolling in a supposedly free dog grooming school and then sending collection agencies after them when they left for another job.

“PetSmart lured prospective dog groomers with promises of ‘free’ paid training, only to trap them into staying with the company,” Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a statement.

In a lawsuit filed in Denver District Court, Weiser’s office highlighted a half-dozen PetSmart ads claiming that its grooming academy was free. In reality, it cost either $5,000 or $5,500. If an employee stayed with PetSmart for at least one year after graduating, half of that cost was forgiven. If the employee stayed for two years, the full tuition was forgiven.

“For most associates, thousands of dollars was too high a cost to pay to leave their position,” the lawsuit states. “This meant that many associates stayed in their positions for two years, even if it meant giving up higher paying opportunities or better work environments.”

Meanwhile, training at the grooming academy was substandard, the government alleges. One Colorado employee showed her PetSmart grooming certificate to a prospective employer “who laughed and confirmed the certificate was not valid elsewhere,” Weiser’s office says.

The state’s lawsuit gets much use out of the name of the contract PetSmart grooming students were required to sign: a training repayment agreement provision, or TRAP.

Spokespeople for PetSmart, which has 35 stores in Colorado, declined to comment Tuesday.

The attorney general’s office is asking Judge Heidi Kutcher to prohibit PetSmart from collecting on debts from former grooming academy participants. It is also seeking penalties of up to $50,000 per TRAP, which it claims violates the Colorado Consumer Protection Act.

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