Lowe's workers like their tax-reform bonuses

Rep. Richard Hudson promotes Trump tax cuts during Fayetteville visit. The store manager says the bonuses help make a happier work environment.

Lowe's home improvement store worker Kelsey Turner said she and her fellow employees at the Raeford Road location in west Fayetteville were surprised and excited when the company announced bonuses in the wake of President Donald Trump's tax reform package.

"It was very unexpected and was very appreciated, for all of us, all the employees," said Turner, who works part-time at the customer service desk and has been with Lowe's for a year. "Everybody was talking about it, like: ‘Did you see how much you got?' Everybody was happy about it."

Turner said she received $80 and used it to pay bills.

Turner was interviewed during a visit to the store on Monday by 8th District Republican U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson. Hudson was in Fayetteville to promote the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act tax reform package that became law in December. Trump and Republicans have cited reports that nearly 400 companies are giving bonuses, pay raises or both to several million workers nationwide.

The tax reform law cuts taxes for individuals and corporations.

Individuals should be seeing greater take-home pay this month because of the lowered tax rates. The lowered rates for individuals are scheduled to expire at the end of 2025 while the corporate cuts are to stay in place.

Lowe's, based in Mooresville, announced on Feb. 1 it would pay one-time bonuses of up to $1,000 to its 260,000 hourly workers following the tax reform law. It also is boosting its maternity and parental leave, adoption and health-care benefits for its full-time employees.

The amount of the bonus varies with the worker's tenure.

Joseph Mosley works full-time in the flooring department. He received $300, he said.

"It was very unexpected," and he was glad to get it, he said. He used it to pay for a birthday party for his daughter, he said.

Critics of the tax plan predicted that corporations would give little, if any money, to their workers and instead use the tax cuts to boost dividends and stock values — corporate executives work for the shareholders and are expected to give extra money and profits to those owners, not spend revenue on employees when they don't need to.

Prior to the passage of the tax reform law, some corporate leaders said as much in news reports and in a survey conducted by Bank of America. Their plans included paying down debt and buying back company stock to push up stock prices.

Companies also need to focus on their employees, Hudson said.

"If you want to run a successful business you've got to have healthy, happy employees who do a good job," Hudson said. "So I would say investing in your employees is a smart business move."

Store manager Cory Calloway, who doesn't qualify for the bonus because he is salaried, said the bonuses will make Lowe's a better company.

"The biggest benefit for us is: A happier work environment is going to help us out tremendously in the long run with our customers," Calloway said.

The prime things to drive success are worker morale and customer service, he said. "If we take care of those two things, we're in the right," he said. "That's our two biggest assets — our customers and our employees."