Drybar Hair Salon Wage Suit Alleges Failure to Pay Overtime

Drybar, a specialty hair salon that focuses on just providing shampoo and blow out services to their clients, has been the subject of a hair salon wage suit investigation alleging failure to pay overtime wages.

While many licensed stylists rent space at salons, several salons such as Drybar employ their stylists on an hourly basis. Drybar has locations in 18 states as well as the District of Columbia. It is just one example of a multi-branch salon with employees versus independent contractors.

Hourly employees are hired at a base rate of pay per hour. If an employee of a salon such as Drybar works more than 40 hours in a seven-day work week, they should be legally entitled to be paid at one-and-one-half times their hourly base rate of pay in overtime wages.

Under scrutiny are employee reports that some salons pressure employees to perform certain duties while technically off-the-clock before or after their assigned shifts, or even during scheduled meal and rest breaks.

The current hair salon wage suit investigation is looking at janitorial and other duties randomly assigned such as sweeping floors, cleaning bathroom facilities, stocking product supplies, and salon walk-in and telephone reception.

To maximize their potential for profit, many salons such as Drybar allegedly overbook appointments, which makes it difficult for employees to get a lunch or rest break as a shift wears on.

In some states, a salon needs to have a prior agreement with an employee that if they cannot provide a meal period, it is okay provided an extra hour of work is paid for by the company. The hair salon wage suit investigation is indicating that in many circumstances, this isn’t happening.

The Product Push

In many salons, according to the Drybar hair salon wage suit investigation, stylists are pressured to push sales of hair care products as part of an ongoing pitch while offering services. The incentive for doing so is the offer of a commission off the sale.

Employees argue that the commission earned in a given hour of work should be part of the calculation for an overtime rate when that is due the stylist, salon manager, or receptionist. Instead, research indicates it is often held off as a separate payment option.

Drybar Salon History

In the summers of 2013 and 2014 respectively, two stylists and then a salon coordinator filed legal actions against the Regis Corp., parent company to Drybar salons. Both hair salon wage suit registrations were class actions.

The Drybar class actions accused the company of keeping poor or completely inaccurate payroll records, failing to pay regular or overtime wages appropriately, and not offering rest breaks required by law.

These actions were combined in a $5.75 million settlement of the case in California federal court in November 2015. Although Regis payed heftily for its alleged shortcomings, employees report that Drybar continues to avoid compliance with applicable employment laws.

Join a Free Salon Wage and Hour Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you worked for Drybar or another salon in the last four years and you were denied compensation for off-the-clock work, overtime, and/or missed meal and rest breaks, you may qualify to join a free salon employee class action lawsuit investigation.

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