Is it illegal for a manager to tell workers to buy store products just to make the sales goal for the day?

Question

The company I work with has a set sales goal everyday. At the end of the day, we check if we are close to the goal or not. If we aren't close to it, the district and store manager doesn't worry about it. But if we are $100 away from the goal and we don't make it, our district manager yells at us... literally. Our district manager wants us to buy things just to make goal. My coworkers and I don't get paid very well and we don't want to drop $50+ to make goal. Yet we don't want to get screamed at. My coworker's friend said it was illegal for the company to tell us to buy things to make goal. Our company store is located in Massachusetts. Is it illegal?

Please give me as much information, with links to websites, etc. I want to fight this because it is stupid for us to buy items we don't need just to meet goal, and getting screamed at by the district manager if we don't meet it by $100 or something.

Answer 1

It's illegal because it's (verbal) harassment. It is not your job whether or not the company makes quota, and if you're getting verbally abused because of it, that is very much workplace harassment. You are under no obligation to buy anything, and you shouldn't feel like you should to keep your employers happy. You should not feel threatened by your employers- which the case here is. You are grudgingly buying products to help your employer meet company quota because you don't want to be harassed by them. You shouldn't be harassed in the first place. You probably ask your police officers, lawyers, or whatever to figure where to go from here.  

Answer 2

No, of course it isn't legal.  You work to earn money from the company, not spend it.  Tomorrow morning, call the Mass. Labor Relations Commission, and the NLRB...

http://www.nlrb.gov/

http://www.mass.gov/lrc/

Answer 3

To tell you to? Probably not technically.

To punish you for not doing so? Yes. Very much so. Otherwise, companies could order their employees to spend their entire paychecks there, which is close to slavery.