Children’s entertainment company Clowns.com has been sued by an ex-employee who claims the New York-based company failed to pay him overtime.
Oscar Javier Espinoza alleges that he worked more than 40 hours a week during the first 5 years and 9 months at Clowns.com, but was only paid straight time.
Espinoza worked as a “helper and delivery person” at the company, which rents out bounce houses, costumed character appearances and party staples, according to a federal lawsuit filed on Friday.
The lawsuit, obtained by Newsday, contends that Espinoza is a “victim of a uniform, unlawful, companywide compensation policy that has deprived him of proper overtime compensation.”
Espinoza was hired back in June 2018, although his lawsuit alleges that the company failed to provide him with a wage notice detailing his pay at that time or at any point thereafter.
The ex-employee’s lawsuit says that being denied “accurate paystubs” left Espinoza “in the dark about how much he should have been paid.”
From March 2024 until his firing two years later, he says that he was paid overtime from “time to time.”
In one example included in the filing, Espinoza alleges that he worked 60 hours in one week but only received overtime pay for 12 of those hours. No compensation was given for the remaining time that he worked, Espinoza claims.
The lawsuit, which accuses the company and its owners of violating federal and state labor laws, is seeking damages, unpaid wages and interest “in an amount to be determined at trial.”
The filing is also seeking attorney's fees and costs.
In December 2023, the children’s entertainment company was sued by four clowns and entertainers who worked at the firm.
The plaintiffs alleged that the company misclassified them as independent contractors, despite promising them a $25 hourly wage.
As with Espinoza’s filing, the owners of Clowns.com, Adolph Rodriguez and Erica Barbuto, were named in the lawsuit.
Cameron Pille, one of the plaintiffs in the 2023 filing, said that she was fired within thirty minutes of raising concerns about pay practices with another co-worker.
“For years, Clowns.com has treated clowns, who are largely young actors with no prior training in clowning who sign up for this job to make ends meet, as independent contractors,” Pille said in a press release shared by Kakalex Law PLLC.
“I’m proud to join with my clown colleagues to stand up to their wage theft and misclassification.”
The Independent has contacted Clowns.com for comment.
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