Some Bay Area Massage Envy locations accused of wage theft, labor-code violations

Workers say they were denied meal breaks, overtime pay

A group of Massage Envy locations in the Bay Area is being investigated by the state over allegations of wage theft, labor code violations and discrimination against workers.

Three former employees and one woman who still works for the company say they were denied sick and overtime pay, as well as meal and rest breaks, by the owners of Massage Envy franchises in Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Redwood City, Burlingame and Daly City. They also say they were treated differently because they are Latina, including by being paid less and not receiving benefits despite performing similar duties as their white and Chinese counterparts. One of them says she faced discrimination after she told her bosses she was pregnant.

“When I told them I was pregnant, they were like, nope, we can’t have this,” Sofia Navarro, of San Jose, who worked as an assistant general manager, said in an interview. In her complaint, she said her bosses reduced her workload and deactivated her logins at certain locations even though she asked if she could keep the same duties. She went on maternity leave in February, then was essentially forced out and submitted her resignation in June, she said.

Navarro, who began working in the Sunnyvale location in 2014 and eventually worked at all the locations owned by franchisees Yim Murphy and Wenge Zhang, also alleges that she was repeatedly and “aggressively” asked to edit timesheets to put in lunch breaks that some employees didn’t actually take. She said she refused to do so.

Navarro said her duties included hiring, processing payroll and other administrative tasks, so she saw that others were getting health and dental benefits and sick pay. She contends that only a few col

leagues — most of whom were white — received those benefits.

The women filed their claims in February. In midAugust, the state labor department said it needed 90 more days to investigate the accusations. A spokeswoman for the state confirmed this week that investigations into accusations by four women, including one who still works at Massage Envy, are ongoing but would not comment further.

Larry Kazanjian, managing partner of Palmer Kazanjian Wohl Hodson, the law firm representing Murphy and Zhang, said Thursday that his clients deny all charges, but he would not provide additional comment.

Massage Envy has more than 1,200 locations in 49 states, according to its website. Murphy and Zang own eight franchised locations in the Bay Area.

“All Massage Envy locations are independently owned and operated,” the Arizona company said by email. “We do not own or operate any Massage Envy location. However, all franchised locations are required to follow all federal, state, and local laws.”

The company did not respond when asked whether the corporate office was aware of the complaints against the franchised locations in question.

Caneisha Howell, of San Jose, and Jocelyn Torres, of Santa Clara, were front-desk workers who were laid off in January. They, too, worked at different locations and said white and Chinese employees were given preferential treatment and given more work hours than others. But Howell also contends that some of the Chinese employees who speak limited English were being exploited.

“The fallout of the language barrier is that the therapists do not know their rights,” Howell said in her complaint to the state labor board. “They sometimes do not take lunches or 10-minute breaks.”

The complaints Howell and Torres filed with the state estimate that at least a couple of hundred employees may be affected by late payment of wages, meal period violations and pay stub violations. They estimate that at least a few dozen to 100 workers are affected by rest break violations, overtime violations and unpaid wages.

The complainant who still works at Massage Envy, who filed with the state under Jane Doe, said in an interview that the owners have been trying to make changes since February, when they became aware of the complaints. That includes giving employees new handbooks. But she said the practices remain mostly the same and that the owners are simply trying to make sure the paperwork looks legitimate.

Three of the four women have also filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and all say they intend to pursue a possible class-action lawsuit.