Attorney General Letitia James announced the recovery of $300,000 in unpaid wages for more than 100 workers at Envy Nails, a chain of 25 nail salons located across The Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens. The workers, many of whom are vulnerable immigrants and workers of color, were cheated out of the minimum wage and the required overtime rate for hours worked over forty in a work week that they were entitled to receive between 2015 and 2021.
The settlement is the result of a multi-agency investigation by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG), the New York Department of Labor (DOL) and the New York State Department of State (DOS). Envy Nails will not only pay restitution to its employees but also dissolve improperly registered corporate entities and submit reports to the OAG for a period of three years.
“Envy Nails did not pay minimum wage, cheating more than 100 salon workers out of the livelihoods they had rightfully earned,” said the Attorney General. “We are holding them accountable for their crimes, and New Yorkers can rest assured that we will always fight for workers’ rights.”
The investigation revealed that between 2015 and 2021, Envy Nails systematically underpaid its workers, in violation of New York labor laws. The salons misclassified their workers as independent contractors, did not pay them the required minimum wages or overtime pay, and further underreported over $2 million in taxable sales.
“Wage theft undermines the basic rights of working New Yorkers,” said New York Department of Labor Commissioner. She thanked the Attorney General and Governer for their dedication to ensuring no New Yorker is robbed of their hard-earned wages.
Labor violations like wage theft and employee misclassification are all too common in the nail salon industry. If you believe you have been the victim of illegal labor practices, please contact the attorneys at Pechman Law Group at 212-583-9500. We have recovered over 30 million dollars on behalf of workers who have been cheated out of their overtime or have been subjected to other unlawful pay practices.
