San Mateo spa to pay $500,000 to molestation victim

A San Mateo spa that shut its doors unexpectedly last month has agreed to pay a woman $500,000 after an employee touched her inappropriately during a massage, the plaintiff’s attorney said Wednesday.

Masseur Kevin Bradshaw is serving a one-year sentence in San Mateo County jail for rubbing the woman’s breasts and pubic region without consent at the Sandra Caron European Spa and for inappropriately touching another woman during a massage at a second San Mateo establishment.

“We’re satisfied with the settlement,” attorney Todd Emanuel said. “This corporation is starting to be held accountable for mistreating and endangering its customers.

“Unfortunately, I feel that this is probably just the tip of the iceberg,” Emanuel added, noting that he is representing other women in similar suits against the Sandra Caron spa.

The spa closed at the beginning of October after failing to pay rent on its 3rd Avenue space, and employees and customers say it still owes them unpaid wages and refunds for existing gift cards. The Web site appeared to be accepting credit card statements for gift certificates weeks after the spa’s closure.

Peter Dixon, an attorney representing owners Sandra and Lionel Caron in the civil lawsuit, didn’t return a phone call seeking comment Wednesday. The Carons have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, according to Emanuel.

A judge scheduled a December default hearing for Bradshaw in the civil case after he failed
to retain counsel or respond to the suit.

In a document filed Oct. 28 in San Mateo County Superior Court, the unnamed plaintiff alleges that the Sandra Caron spa re-hired Bradshaw knowing he had been fired from Massage Envy in San Mateo for allegedly sexually battering another customer.

The spa received numerous complaints on the popular Web site Yelp, mostly centering on the decor and alleged nasty customer service, which one user described as “curt and snarly.”

Before closing the spa, the Carons filed a lawsuit alleging former employees wrote some of the negative Internet reviews.

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San Mateo spa left them high and dry, employees, clients say

San Mateo business shut down without warning, city and state officials are told
Former employees and clients of a San Mateo spa that closed last month have told city and state officials that the business shut down without warning — and failed to make good on outstanding wages and gift certificates.

The state Department of Industrial Relations said a former employee of the Sandra Caron European Spa on Third Avenue filed a complaint for $6,000 in unpaid wages for hours worked between July 14 and Oct. 10. If officials find in favor of the plaintiff, the spa may also have to pay nearly $2,800 in penalties, said Erika Monterroza, a spokeswoman for the agency.

A second employee, who worked as an aesthetician and asked that her name not appear in print because she feared reprisal, said the spa owed her more than $300 in wages for the first five days of October. The woman said four massage therapists and another aesthetician also never received their paychecks.

Between seven and 10 former clients of the spa called the San Mateo Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown San Mateo Association about unredeemed gift certificates, association Executive Director Kelly Mitter said.

“They just sort of vanished,” Mitter said. “It’s like somebody went home one night and never came back.”

San Mateo police Lt. Mike Brunicardi said a resident contacted police Wednesday about the spa but didn’t file a report because it was a civil rather than a criminal matter. He added that a gift certificate is a contract between a business and a customer and doesn’t fall under the department’s jurisdiction.

The store had no “closed” sign in the window this week. A for-lease sign and locked door were the only indications the business had closed.

Russell Hitomi, a senior property manager for Coldwell Banker Commercial-Wilbur Properties in Palo Alto, said his company began eviction proceedings after the spa failed to pay its October rent of about $13,000. An unidentified woman then dropped off the keys Oct. 7 or 8, said Hitomi, adding that the business had occupied the building for at least 10 years and signed a five-year renewal lease just two months earlier.

“We’re going to go after them for the entire five years,” Hitomi said. “It may be kind of a moot point, because I’ve heard that (the owner) has filed for bankruptcy.”

Hitomi added that Coldwell Banker plans to bring in a liquidator to buy up the spa’s abandoned equipment and merchandise, which includes massage tables, robes, washers and dryers, facial creams and an assortment of Betty Boop dolls.

On its Web site, the spa bills itself as the “largest day spa in the Bay Area,” housed in an 8,000-square-foot facility. It also advertises a number of job openings, including for a receptionist and massage therapist.

The spa remained operational Friday and appeared to be accepting credit card payments for gift certificates. The spa’s phone was disconnected and owners Lionel and Sandra Caron did not answer a message left at their San Mateo residence or an e-mail seeking comment.

The spa received 1-1/2 stars on the popular Web site Yelp and just three positive reviews out of 29. Complaints mostly center on the decor and customer service, which one user described as “curt and snarly.”

David Finkelstein, an attorney representing the Carons in the dispute with Coldwell, said the two parties were in settlement discussions.

Finkelstein cited the “general downturn in the economy and retail businesses” as the primary reason for the spa’s closure.

It wasn’t clear whether some of the business’ financial difficulties sprang from civil lawsuits filed against it by women who accused an employee of fondling them during massages. A jury convicted 33-year-old masseur Kevin Bradshaw of inappropriately touching two women at Sandra Caron and another San Mateo spa, and he is currently serving a one-year sentence in San Mateo County jail.

In an Oct. 28 document filed in San Mateo County Superior Court, one plaintiff charges that the Sandra Caron spa rehired Bradshaw knowing he had been fired from Massage Envy in San Mateo after being accused of sexually battering a customer.

According to the court filing, Bradshaw regularly engaged in sexual activity with female clients at Sandra Caron and rubbed a customer’s breasts and pubic region without consent just one day before he was accused of making similar advances toward the plaintiff.

Todd Emanuel, the plaintiff’s attorney, said he was representing “multiple victims” in cases involving inappropriate touching at the spa. The spa’s attorney in the case, Peter Dixon, couldn’t be reached for comment.

Customers with Sandra Caron gift cards can apply 25 percent of their certificates’ value to any 60-minute regularly priced spa service at The Spa Studio on South B Street, owner Wendy Narlock said. In addition, former Sandra Caron customers will receive a 30 percent discount at their first appointment.

Narlock said she made the offer because she felt sorry for the customers and wanted to attract new business.

“I hope people don’t think that this is something that happens all the time,” Narlock said. “We’re definitely not a fly-by-night outfit.”

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CA Day Spa, CA Spas, Day Spa, Lawsuits, Spa Closing, Spa Closings

Massage firm at malls to give worker back pay

Oriental Chi, a chair massage business, agreed to pay an employee $767 after a state investigation found it had violated the minimum-wage law.

Steven Chen, Oriental Chi’s owner, said the employee was a trainee and had agreed to accept a lower wage. However, under state law, employees can’t waive their right to minimum wage, said Randall Maruca, director of the state Labor Department.

Chen said his therapists are paid on commission, and most make more than minimum wage.

“We have been complying with the minimum-wage law,” he said.

The complaint against Oriental Chi was first filed in November 2007 as a wage claim, which is filed when an employee believes he hasn’t been compensated for time worked, Maruca said. That claim was dismissed, and the minimum-wage claim was filed in April, Maruca said.

The complaint was resolved in June after an investigation found Oriental Chi had violated the state’s minimum-wage law.
The employee, whose name was not released because of state law, had been paid too little for about three months, and Oriental Chi agreed to pay the back wages, Maruca said. No further action against Oriental Chi was taken, Maruca said.

Oriental Chi also is working to get state licenses for its therapists, Chen said.
Oriental Chi’s workers had performed quick chair massages without massage licenses in local malls. In a Star story published in November, Chen said his workers were technically not performing massages but less intensive “energy work,” which does not require a license in Arizona.

A state board told Oriental Chi that it no longer could give massages until its therapists have state licenses.
In the meantime, Chen said, Oriental Chi’s therapists have been performing reflexology, which involves pressure areas on the hands and feet.

Oriental Chi has operated at Park Place, Tucson Mall, Foothills Mall and the Mall at Sierra Vista. The business has a total of 10 locations in Arizona, California and Colorado, and is expanding to Texas and Georgia, Chen said.

 

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Arizona Spas, Chair Massage, Lawsuits

Arcadia temporarily bans new massage therapy businesses

ARCADIA - Overwhelmed by a surge in license applications averaging as high as four per day - and concerned about the possibility of prostitution - Arcadia is saying no to new massage therapy businesses.

City Council members this week placed a 45-day moratorium on all new license applications for businesses that supply massages as a secondary service - such as spas, acupuncturists and chiropractors. Arcadia also will stop issuing new licenses to massage therapists.

The ban could be extended for Read more…

CA Day Spa, CA Spas, Day Spa, Lawsuits, Massage, Spa Business, Spa Jobs, Spa Legal Issues

Resort settles with employees

A settlement was reached in a class action lawsuit between the Grand Traverse Resort & Spa and scores of resort employees over money withheld from their paychecks that was used for resort marketing.

The resort agreed to pay $78,000 to a group of around 150 current and former resort workers in a settlement filed Monday in 13th Circuit Court. The resort was sued last summer over alleged violations of state employment and wage laws over $150 bi-weekly paycheck deductions for numerous employees at its health spa that were used to help fund the resort’s marketing efforts.

The deductions were initiated by the resort’s former owners, KSL Recreation Inc. They eventually were phased out by the current owners, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, after the tribe bought the resort in 2003.

A statement issued by the resort Tuesday said plaintiffs dismissed their allegation that charged tips and commissions on retail products were not properly paid.

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Employment Issue, Lawsuits, MI Spas