Vietnamese American salon owners sue California alleging labor code is discriminatory
Several Vietnamese American-owned nail salons in Orange County have sued California, alleging the state's labor code is discriminating against their businesses.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana on Friday, alleges that the state's labor code violates the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection under the law by forcing nail technicians to be classified as employees.
The suit argues that professionals in the beauty industry for years have operated as independent contractors, renting space in a salon and bringing in their own clients. That changed at the beginning of 2025, when nail technicians in the labor code became required to be classified as employees, the lawsuit said.
California Assemblyman Tri Ta (R-Westminster), who represents Little Saigon and surrounding communities, said his office has fielded much concern from Vietnamese American nail salon owners.
"Their lives have turned upside down overnight," Ta said at a news conference Monday morning. "It is not just unfair, it is discrimination."
The switch in labor law came back in 2019, when a sweeping law governing worker classification rules across various industries called Assembly Bill 5 was approved - a law that codified a California Supreme Court decision creating a stricter test to judge whether a worker should be considered an employee rather than an independent contractor.
AB 5 sought to crack down on industries where many workers are misclassified as independent contractors, who are not afforded protections including minimum wage, overtime pay and workers' compensation that employees have access to. But various industries have said AB 5 targets them unfairly, creating an uneven playing field for businesses.
Some professions received carve-outs, including doctors, accountants, real estate agents and hairdressers; while others such as truckers, commercial janitors and physical therapists must abide by the tighter classification rules.
Some implementation of the law was staggered to give industries, including nail technicians, time to adapt.
The lawsuit describes how the nail salon industry in California became dominated by Vietnamese workers in recent decades, when Vietnamese refugees began fleeing to the U.S. in large numbers in 1975 after the fall of Saigon in America's failed military intervention in Southeast Asia.
The industry "has become synonymous with the Vietnamese community," the lawsuit said, with more than 82% of all nail technicians in California being Vietnamese American, and some 85% women.
The businesses that filed suit include multiple locations of Blue Nail Bar, Happy Nails & Spa and Holly and Hudson Nail Lounge.
Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Should You Use Your 401(k) To Pay Off Your House?
Saving for retirement, whether it's through an individual retirement account (IRA) or 401(k), is typically top of the list for everyone's financial goals. However, when it comes to long-term personal finances, how can your 401(k) contributions combat your real estate woes? For You: Learn More: Using your 401(k) plan is not generally the best way to pay off your mortgage early or even subsidize your monthly payments. Still, if you're thinking of going in that direction, you should know what the pros and cons are of using your retirement money to get your mortgage paid, along with the steps you should take to do it. Here are the things you should factor into your decision, along with consequences you won't want to overlook. The main benefit to using your traditional 401(k) to pay off your house is that you'll no longer have to worry about making mortgage payments. If you're like most American households, this will provide a significant boost to your monthly cash flow, possibly in the thousands of dollars. You'll also avoid paying potentially tens of thousands of dollars in interest over the life of your mortgage. This alone could make the idea of paying off your home early make sense. Another factor that many overlook when it comes to paying off your mortgage is that it can make the transfer of wealth to your heirs easier and less costly. If you pass on a 401(k) to your heirs, all of the money in the account becomes taxable as your heirs withdraw it. But in a house, your money can potentially pass to your heirs tax-free. This is because upon your death, the cost basis in your house 'steps up' to the current market valuation. If your heirs sell the house, they will likely pay only small or even nonexistent capital gains. That could amount to tax savings of tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for your beneficiaries. Read Next: In most cases, taking money out of your 401(k) plan to pay off your mortgage is a bad idea. From just a strictly mathematical perspective, you're likely earning more in your 401(k) plan than you are paying in interest on your mortgage. Even if you have a relatively conservative 401(k) allocation, for example, you're likely earning at least 5% on your money. Considering that most existing mortgages are costing homeowners less than 5%, the math doesn't make sense. Another huge drawback is that you'll owe ordinary income tax on any money you withdraw from your 401(k). If you're in a high tax bracket, the combined hit to your nest egg can approach 50%, meaning your $100,000 withdrawal to pay off your mortgage is really only worth $50,000. The last significant drawback to paying off your mortgage this way is that it will wreak havoc on your retirement savings plan. When you take money out of your 401(k), you not only lose the actual amount you withdraw, but you also miss out on its future growth. If you take $100,000 out of your 401(k) at age 40, for example, you'll be missing out on 25 years of growth, assuming you plan to retire at 65. At even just a 6% annual rate of return, that money could have grown to nearly $450,000 by age 65. If you're looking to analyze the real damage that a withdrawal can cause to your retirement plan, look at the total amount you'll be losing in the future, not just the amount you're planning to withdraw today. The bottom line is that if you're considering drawing down your 401(k) plan to pay off your house, keep these dos and don'ts in mind: Compare the interest rate you're earning in your 401(k) with the rate you're paying on your mortgage. Have a plan for what to do with the excess cash flow if you pay off your home. Factor in the tax ramifications of withdrawing from your 401(k), including any penalties. Replace the money you withdrew from your 401(k) plan as rapidly as possible by maxing out your contributions. Fritter away the extra money in your monthly budget after paying off your mortgage. Pay off your home with your retirement money if you have a low-rate mortgage. Decimate your nest egg if you have no plan to restore it. Forget that the real amount you're withdrawing from your 401(k) should include potential future gains as well. Caitlyn Moorhead contributed to the reporting for this article. More From GOBankingRates 3 Luxury SUVs That Will Have Massive Price Drops in Summer 2025 5 Cities You Need To Consider If You're Retiring in 2025 6 Big Shakeups Coming to Social Security in 2025 This article originally appeared on Should You Use Your 401(k) To Pay Off Your House? Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Exclusive-Iranian retaliation against U.S. forces could come soon, U.S. officials say
By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States believes Iran could carry out retaliatory attacks targeting American forces in the Middle East soon, although the U.S. is still seeking a diplomatic resolution that would see Tehran forgo any attack, two U.S. officials said on Monday. One of the officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity to discuss the assessment, said Iran's retaliatory attack could happen within the next day or two. Iran has threatened to retaliate after U.S. bombed its nuclear sites over the weekend. U.S. officials have warned Iran against hitting back at the U.S. and President Donald Trump said after the strikes that any retaliation by Iran against the U.S. would be met with a force far greater than that used in the weekend U.S. attacks. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, said on Sunday that the U.S. military had increased protection of troops in the region, including in Iraq and Syria. The United States has a sizeable force deployed to the Middle East, with nearly 40,000 troops in the region. Some of them operate air defense systems, fighter aircraft and warships that can detect and shoot down incoming enemy missiles but their positions are vulnerable to attack. Reuters reported last week that the Pentagon had moved some aircraft and ships from bases in the Middle East that may be vulnerable to any potential Iranian attack. That included aircraft being removed from the 24-hectare Al Udeid Air Base, in the desert outside the capital Doha. It is Middle East's largest U.S. base and houses around 10,000 troops. Tehran has vowed to defend itself and retaliate. But, perhaps in an effort to avert all-out war with the United States, it had yet to target U.S. bases or choke off a quarter of the world's oil shipments that pass through its waters by closing the Strait of Hormuz.
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Greene: Opposition to Iran attack ‘not disloyalty' to Trump
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a fierce supporter of President Trump, pushed back against claims that her opposition to U.S. involvement in the Iran-Israel conflict amounts to 'disloyalty' to the president. In a lengthy post on the social platform X, Greene railed against the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites this weekend but ended her comments with a clear message of support for the president. 'I can also support President Trump and his great administration on many of the great things they are doing while disagreeing on bombing Iran and getting involved in a hot war that Israel started,' Greene wrote on Sunday. 'That's not disloyalty,' she continued. 'Critical thinking and having my own opinions is the most American thing ever.' Greene blasted Democrats for suggesting otherwise. 'Because contrary to what brainwashed Democrat boomers say, Trump is not a king, MAGA is not a cult, and President Trump has surrounded himself with people who once disagreed with him and even ran against him for President,' she added. Greene also labeled Democrats 'hypocrites' for expressing concern about Trump's strikes on Iran while backing former President Biden's support for Ukraine's defensive war against Russia and the Afghanistan withdrawal. 'Also the same Democrats in Congress that are all of sudden clutching their pearls about Trump bombing Iran FULLY SUPPORTED AND VOTED TO FUND Dementia ridden Biden's proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and stood by Biden's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan,' she wrote. 'Hypocrites is all they are,' she continued, 'and they are just desperately trying to find solid ground to oppose Trump on because so far they've failed at grasping anything yet.' The remarks come after U.S. forces struck three Iranian nuclear sites on Saturday evening, in what President Trump called a 'spectacular military success.' The bombs targeted three nuclear sites in Natanz, Esfahan and Fordow, located inside a mountain. Six 'bunker buster' bombs were reportedly dropped on Fordow, while more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles were launched at the other two sites. Trump has warned Iran against taking any retaliatory actions, warning of additional attacks if the country does not make meaningful efforts towards peace. The bombings put the U.S. directly in Iran's crosshairs for retaliation and made it an active participant in the Middle Eastern war, which Israel launched with airstrikes against Iran on June 13. Ahead of the strikes, news outlets had focused on the so-called civil war in the GOP between the pro-Israel foreign policy hawks and supporters who identified more with the 'America First' agenda. Members of both groups had been publicly lobbying the president in opposite directions as he considered taking military actions against Iran. Trump on Sunday brushed off concerns about a fracturing in the GOP. 'Great unity in the Republican Party, perhaps unity like we have never seen before,' Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
