Nail salons close for labor violations

State agency cracks down following Hearst investigation

Acting on a Hearst Connecticut Media report about abuses in the nail-salon industry, the state Department of Labor issued two dozen stop-work orders this week in six towns, mostly in southwestern Connecticut.

Department inspectors visited 39 salons in the recent round of checks, and more than 60 percent failed.

“Although we recognize the importance of keeping businesses open and employees on the job, our first responsibility is to ensure that workers are being paid correctly for the jobs that they do, and proper protections are in place should they get injured while on the job,” state Labor Commissioner Kurt Westby said. “In promoting workplace compliance, we help create a level playing field so employers doing the right thing can remain competitive.”

Some of the businesses — which are in Greenwich, Fairfield, Hamden, Bridgeport, Meriden and Milford — were closed temporarily. Westby said the agency is working with the businesses to get them into compliance with state laws, with the goal to get as many as possible reopened by this weekend.

Violations included failure to have workers compensation coverage, cash payments

maintaining payroll records and misclassification of employees as independent contractors, making them ineligible for overtime and other benefits.

The businesses face fines of as much as $300 per worker per day that violations occurred.

The inspections did not cover health or safety issues, which are the purview of cities and towns.

Tom Wydra, director of the department’s wage and workplace standards division, said Hearst’s Jan. 31 story on labor violations in nail salons and spas helped prompt the sweep.

“We have done sweeps before but not since 2015. With the General Assembly in session and the topic out there, we felt it was time to do a more comprehensive sweep and see what it produced.”

The department may do

another round of random inspections in the next few months, he said.

On Friday, a red stop-work order was fixed to the window of Rose Nail Salon in Greenwich. Choi Yi, who works there, opened the door and said the manager was away. She was told the salon would reopen in a few days after the owner finished some paperwork.

“Everything is OK,” she said, adding that her English is poor.

In 2015, the state Department of Labor conducted another nail salon sweep, visiting 25 businesses. Nearly all were not complying with labor laws.

But since that time, Hearst Connecticut Media found the state had not conducted systematic random inspections. Instead, it only responded to complaints from the public about specific businesses. The department said at the time it did not have the resources to conduct more inspections.

Meanwhile, Hearst Connecticut Media identified potential labor violations at salons not visited by the Labor Department. Workers, lawyers and academics described the widespread nature of labor abuses in this industry in which large numbers of immigrants, vulnerable to exploitation, work.

“I bring a lot of cases against employers for violating basic labor standards,” said James Bhandary-Alexander, a staff attorney at New Haven Legal Assistance. “Nails salons are notoriously not meeting those basic standards.”

Connecticut is the only state in the nation that does not license nail technicians and estheticians. Advocates for licensure argue this regulation could help protect workers and reduce labor law violations.

A bipartisan bill to license nail technicians and estheticians is before the General Assembly, but is not gaining much traction. State Rep. Jillian Gilchrest, D-West Hartford, deployed unusual tactics Tuesday to obtain an impromptu public hearing for the bill.

According to a nonscientific Hearst Connecticut Media reader survey, 85 percent of Connecticut nail salon customers would be willing to pay more for services if it ensured the businesses were safe, hygienic, properly regulated and paid their workers legally.

Customers can help root our labor violations by having their “eyes open” for suspicious businesses practices, said Wydra. If a custion tomer leaves a tip and someone other than the worker collects it, that may be a signal that employees are not being properly paid.

Wydra, at the labor department, said, “We need to perhaps ramp up our educawithout of these employers as well.”