Kinja reply list

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gommerthusAnna Merlan
2/29/16 6:48pm
For any of you who have not read the NYT article, oh by god please read it, word for word, and take your time.

It paints in incredible detail(pardon the pun) on the state of things. From people sleeping together in squalor, to different races in an almost hierarchical power structure within the salons - it was a fascinating read not only because of the egregious flouting of state laws, but also the very human element within, as well as the despair in the Twilight Zone type-ending.

I won’t spoil it but seriously one of the best articles I’ve read in recent memory.
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  JujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes heregommerthus
  2/29/16 7:09pm
  Yup. Outstanding stuff. Almost as good as Anna’s post on the Conspira-Sea cruise.
  
  I kid. The Times really did a great job exposing grotesque human rights violations.
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  Rowen (Paid Politcal Shill)gommerthus
  2/29/16 7:30pm
  I haven’t gotten a pedicure since then, because I have no idea where to go that isn’t terrible.
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Let's eat firstAnna Merlan
2/29/16 7:33pm
Good. And, there are probably many more salons out there that need to compensate their workers retroactively.

But, funny how quickly we were able to go after nail salon owners, but major corporations, banks, investment firms can steal from us and treat workers like wage slaves for little compensation. They have created welfare states within states in some communities. Yet, they are off the hook.

If only we could get such relatively quick results for those entities that our depriving the average American of their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. When was the last time most of sat around and had time to think about how the hell we planned to pursue OUR happiness?

This lopsided situation is ridiculous. Maybe you’re not dealing with someone’s corn crusted toes while they obnoxiously yak on their cell, only to stop now and then to tell you she doesn’t like something; but, you may still be working in a soul sucking job so that you can keep a shared roof over your head. You still deserve a break. We all deserve a break. Serious. Why are we working 40 hours a week? Why can’t we work 32? And, get paid the same? Why can’t we make sure people have basic health, dental, mental coverage? Education? Safe neighborhoods and acceptable housing. Why can’t we ask that once you turn 18 you can choose to serve in the miliarty or something like AmeriCorps for a period. After that we pay 100% of your education.
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  CadwallerLet's eat first
  2/29/16 7:45pm
  I like you. I want to repost this everywhere. Thank you.
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  Pontificatrix lost her keyLet's eat first
  3/01/16 12:22am
  Yes yes yes needs more stars
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JujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes hereAnna Merlan
2/29/16 6:46pm
Are they paying a set amount per worker or are there different system of distribution?

Apologies if you linked and I didn't see.
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  BCDFGJujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes here
  2/29/16 7:41pm
  Wages-and-hours type actions will usually just calculate what the workers are owed based on the minimum wage, time worked, plus differentials like overtime.
  
  In this case, awards were so big because the salons were running on debt peonage —the owners really do think of themselves as these great benefactors of workers by giving them employment— that often enough you had people who were essentially paying the employer to work.
  
  Unspoken throughout the series, but this stuff goes further up the food chain than the salon owners. Behind the scenes you have people-smuggling syndicates (the “snakeheads”) back in the PRC and elsewhere, and it’s like the slave trade not only in the condition of the workers, but also the financialization of it all. It’s not like an employment or temp agency, where the agency gets a cut of the wage, but more like a futures contract where the employer pays the snakehead in advance for productivity provided by the smuggled workers.
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  GlanceAskanceJujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes here
  3/01/16 9:59am
  I was trying to figure that out as well. $1.1M is certainly a lot of money, but over how many employees? The article doesn’t say exactly (that I saw), but here’s an example from the linked NYT article:
  
  Golden Nails, a tiny salon near Columbia University in Manhattan, was the subject of the largest total underpayment assessment by investigators: almost $100,000 that six employees should have received over three years.
  
  So, that’s $16,666 per employee. For 3 years work. That must be based on the tipped employee min wage, which is either $6.80 or $7.65 / hour, based on how much you’re tipped per hour.
  
  It’s great that these techs are getting what they’re legally entitled to. But that’s still not even close to a living wage.
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Ahab4444Anna Merlan
2/29/16 10:38pm
As for the massage parlors open until 2 AM all over the NYC outer boroughs however, obvious fronts for prostitution and sex trafficking, nothing is done, because the proprietors are smarter about paying off the right people.

http://nypost.com/2015/04/05/ins...
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KaidogAnna Merlan
2/29/16 7:21pm
I’ve never been much for ‘mani-pedis,’ but after reading that article, I'll never have my nails done again. It was horrifying.
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MandarintenAnna Merlan
2/29/16 7:21pm
I heard people who work in Nail salons are exposed to all those chemicals they use for nail care and pretty much has a higher cancer risk.
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whodoesAnna Merlan
2/29/16 7:27pm
There are readily available and fairly cheap options for processing payroll via software or third parties. Quicken Payroll does full service for $79/month + $2 per employee. So we’re talking $100-$150 per month. And plenty of inexpensive time card systems. They somehow can manage to deal with setting up and managing credit card processing, accounting, and other logistics of their business, but they can’t pay a few bucks each month for a payroll service that so happens to pay their employees and taxes properly? Not buying it, nor the undocumented immigrant excuse.
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  BCDFGwhodoes
  2/29/16 8:02pm
  What is unspoken is that the whole enterprise of staffing salons is intricately tied with human smuggling. It will come out in the wash, but the owners of the salons aren’t really paying the workers —they’re paying the people-smugglers who provide the workers in bulk.
  
  Think of it as a good. Freelancers are paid as retail —big markup, but there’s the possibility of discounts for the employer by shopping around smartly. Full-time employees are paid like wholesale merchandise —no markup, but you’re still paying for the warehousing costs (FICA, etc.).
  
  With the salons, what you have are really human labor paid for as a commodity contract: an employer pays a people-smuggler a price for delivery of a certain amount of labor for a certain time period. The individual laborer is irrelevant to the transaction —they’re essentially paid just enough to keep productive to the employer, but what they’re really working for is to buy back the cost of smuggling them.
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EzShakeAnna Merlan
2/29/16 7:05pm
rich owners screwing the workers - again

“But we’re just small business people ... blah blah”
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MarcabExpatAnna Merlan
2/29/16 10:37pm
Why am I not stunned that Reason summoned the courage to call out the injustice of the NYT’s reporting and stood up for the poor, defenseless, overregulated nail salon owners? Why, oh why?
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TheCoolerking101Anna Merlan
3/01/16 10:03am
In other news, every nail salon referenced in these articles will have closed up shop within a month and the victims will never see a dime. That’s the part nobody talks about.
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