Tag: nail salon

GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO REQUIRES NAIL SALON OWNERS TO SECURE BONDS

As we previously posted, Governor Andrew Cuomo recently instituted new measures to protect nail salon workers and educate employers in New York.  The new legislation and regulations aim to crack down on the exploitation of workers in the nail salon industry.  In his latest effort to remedy abuse and unlawful practices in this industry, nail salon owners will now be required to secure wage bonds by October 6, 2015 or otherwise face fines and penalties such as the possible closing of their businesses.  Salon owners would be able to use the bonds to pay for judgments against them in wage-theft cases.  The size of the bond that nail salon owners will be required to secure will depend on the number of employees at the business and the number of hours they work.

The securing of wage bonds is important because it has become commonplace for nail salon owners to claim that they do not have the means to pay judgments against them in wage-theft cases, yet would take steps to hide their assets.  For instance, in 2012, manicurists at Babi, a Long Island chain, were awarded nearly a $500,000 judgment, but only have collected some $100,000.  The chain’s owner claimed to not have the money to pay the judgment, but it was later found that he sold property worth several million dollars right before trial. This new requirement helps to combat situations like these.  Cuomo stated, “Requiring owners to secure a wage bond will help ensure workers are paid what they are legally owed and that businesses have the funds they need to meet their financial obligations.”

This Firm will continue to monitor developments in Governor Cuomo’s initiatives.

NEW YORK NAIL SALONS MUST POST BILL OF RIGHTS

In an effort to eliminate the exploitation of nail salon workers, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a workers’ bill of rights that must be posted in plain view at every nail salon. The posters are printed in 10 languages and state the minimum wage and overtime requirements for both tipped and non-tipped workers.  In addition to including a list of safety gear that salon owners must provide to workers, the poster also states what employers are not permitted to do, i.e., steal tips, deny meal breaks, require workers to pay for job training, etc.

The poster can be found here.

GOVERNOR CUOMO ANNOUNCES STATEWIDE EMERGENCY MEASURES TO PROTECT NAIL SALON WORKERS

Earlier this week, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that a multiagency task force will conduct investigations of nail salons and institute new rules that salons must comply with to protect manicurists from potentially dangerous chemicals found in nail products. He also stated that, “New York State has a long history of confronting wage theft and unfair labor practices head on…and with the formation of this new Enforcement Task Force, we are aggressively following in that tradition.” Governor Cuomo vowed that nail salons that did not comply with orders to pay workers back wages, or are unlicensed, would be shut down.

Governor Cuomo’s initiative follows a two-part investigation by Maslin Nir regarding the mistreatment of nail salon workers in New York. Her report was published in the New York Times last week and has commanded attention.   The comprehensive report was a result of 13 months of researching and reporting and shed light on the unfair labor practices and mistreatment of various nail salon workers. The report exposed the stories of several immigrant nail salon workers who stated that their employers required them to pay $100 to $200 as a “training fee” just to begin working at the salon, and were not paid any wages for months, that is, until their bosses deemed them fit to earn wages. In one instance, when one worker finally was paid, she stated she was paid $30 per day. Although more experienced workers are sometimes paid more, i.e., $40-$80 per day, it still is below minimum wage due to their long working hours. Workers’ tips have also been docked by owners due to minor errors, and overtime pay is basically unheard of in this industry even though workers routinely work up to 12 hour days. Unfortunately, these stories documented in Maslin’s report are commonplace to many workers in this industry.

Maslin further reported that many of these workers endure humiliation and physical abuse by owners and are constantly video-recorded as they work. The report stated that many nail salon workers are Asian and Hispanic with limited English-speaking capabilities and are in this country illegally and are reluctant to report violations or complain because they are just happy to have a job.

The full New York Times report can be found here.