Two manicurists are suing their employer following a New York Times investigation into the labor conditions of nail workers around the New York City area.
Blanca Fernandez and Gloria Marca, workers from the Nailways shop in Manhattan’s Upper East Side neighborhood, are suing their employer Surya Gurung for paying less than minimum wage and failure to pay overtime, Reuters reports. Gurung also owns three more salons. Gurung did not respond to calls for comment from Reuters.
The workers allege in the lawsuit filed in US district court in Manhattan that they were paid $60 per day while working 10 hour shifts without lunch breaks. The workers also allege they received no overtime. Overtime pay is “almost unheard-of in the industry” according to the Times, though the women in the lawsuit worked 52 hours weeks.
The women’s attorney, labor lawyer Gregory Filosa, told Reuters that they “knew that their employer was taking advantage of them and they were not willing to let them get away with it”.
A series of articles published by the New York Times this month found that not only were manicurists routinely underpaid, but that some new employees worked unpaid and were charged a fee for their jobs.
In response to the articles, New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced a task force to investigate nail salons labor practices and licensure throughout the state, and to establish new protections for nail salon workers.
