Barshop and about 50 other employees gave Altovise Collier, 25, a verbal dressing-down when she started working at the Fifth Avenue flagship shop in March, according to the state Division of Human Rights filing. Collier, a state-licensed aesthetician, applied online and was interviewed by phone. She said her employers did not know the color of her skin until her first day of work.
"They were very impressed with me -- until they saw me," said a tearful Collier, of Brooklyn, who relocated from Atlanta to take the job. "I was treated like trash and thrown in the gutter, damn near sleeping in the streets."
Collier, who said she was the only black beautician at the store, claims Barshop underpaid her, forking over only about half of her $700 weekly salary. Also, Collier was paid in cash, and since she had no pay stub, she couldn't lease or rent an apartment or room. Instead, she slept on friends' couches, she said.
Co-workers repeatedly joked that Collier was hired only to "inject some color" into the spa because the chain was going national, she said.
"Everyone treated me badly, like I was in some sort of sorority hazing," said Collier.
And when Collier had to learn waxing techniques from more experienced workers, they withheld crucial information, she claims.
That led to a customer complaining that Collier was not waxing in the same way as the other staffers. When Collier finally complained directly to Barshop about how she was treated, she was fired a week later, she said.
"From Day One, she wasn't given the same training, she wasn't given the same money," said Collier's lawyer, Lenard Leeds. Barshop, whose spas are famous for "vajazzling" -- providing glitter and jewels to female genitalia -- denied the charges, saying Collier was fired "because of the quality of her work."
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