Drybar, Other Salons Accused of Wage Theft Against Employees

Hair salon assistant managers, stylists, shift leads and receptionists who are paid an hourly wage as direct employees of the salon should be compensated for all work performed. Reports of these employees working before and after their shifts and not receiving compensation for such endeavors could be violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

According to some salon employees, work that’s often requested to be performed before or after a shift may include:

• Cleaning the salon
• Cleaning bathrooms
• Sweeping the salon floor
• Refilling shampoos, conditioners, etc.

Drybar, a chain of salons that offer a limited selection of services like blowouts, has faced at least one class action lawsuit alleging wage theft due to its salon employee policies.

According to that lawsuit, stylists and shift leads are hourly employees who also make a commission when they up-sell services, retail products and memberships. Drybar is accused of not including the commission wages when calculating the rate of pay for determining overtime. As a result, the stylists and shift leads claim they are denied the premium overtime wages when they work overtime hours.

The lead plaintiff in the case said she was promoted from shift lead to assistant manager, at which time she began to receive a set salary every two weeks no matter how many hours she worked. She said assistant managers do not perform the body of work or possess any level of authority that would allow them to be considered exempt according to the wage and hour laws of some states.

Drybar assistant managers allege wage theft because they purportedly worked more than 40 hours per week on a regular basis assisting customers by selling products, services and memberships, checking in customers at the front counter, answering phones, operating the cash register, and providing styling services. The assistant managers allege they worked overtime hours but were not paid overtime wages.

Assistant managers allege they were misclassified as salaried employees.

Wage Theft Allegedly Due to Missed Meal Breaks

According to the lawsuit, Drybar stylists, shift leads and assistant managers allege they “were not provided uninterrupted, off-duty meal periods lasting not less than 30 minutes before the fifth hour of work for all days worked.”

According to the labor laws in some states, any missed meal period should result in  an additional hour of wage compensation. Employees claim that none of them received this extra hour of pay even when they missed meal periods.

If you work at a Drybar or other salon where inadequate staffing ensures you miss your breaks and meal periods, you could be a victim of wage theft. According to the Drybar lawsuit, the salons have a “uniform corporate pattern and practice of allocating and authorizing inadequate staffing levels at the individual stores.”

Managers claim that by keeping salons consistently understaffed, Drybar forced them to perform non-exempt, non-managerial work on a regular basis for more than 50 percent of their work time, without paying them overtime pay. Salon employee policies that don’t fairly compensate workers for overtime may amount to wage theft.

Do you work for Drybar or another salon that might have left you a victim of wage theft because of unscrupulous salon employee policies? If you work as an assistant manager, shift lead, stylist or receptionist for a Drybar salon or any other salon that applies salon employee policies that lead to wage theft, you could be eligible to participate in this lawsuit investigation.

The Wage Theft Lawsuit was Case No. CGC-14-540275, in the Superior Court of California City and County of San Francisco.

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.

Learn More