The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1939-01-19
Term "Students"
Will Not Exempt
BedutY Operators
Unemployment Compenso-
ton Payments Must Be
Made By Owners

OF beauty shop proprietors that their
operators are students" or "gradu-
ate students, self-employed' is not
acceptable to the courts of the State
as defense against the charge Of
failing to carry workmen's compcnsa-
tioE insurance, failure to pay unem-
ployment insurance assessments, vio-
lation Of The Beauty Shop Minimum
Wage Order, or violations of any pro-
visions of the Labor Law, Industrial
Commissioner Frieda S. Miller stated
today in reporting developments in
the statewide campaign against delib-
crate evasion. Commissioner Miller
cited two recent cases in which the
Student" defense was interposed un-
successfully. In one instance a fine
Of $50 was imposed upon the defend
ant and in the other fine Of $5 even
though the defendant had sought to
mitigate her offense by procuring
compensation insurance.
In the one instance Fermia Fresno,
who conducts beauty parlors at II
South Main Street, Freeport, l.. l..
and at 32 Atlantic Avenue, Lynbrook,
l.. L., had cancelled his compensation
policies. Presno's explanation to a
Labor Department Investigator was
that he no longer employed anyone;
that he now ran "school" wherein
he taught girls the beauty parlor busi-
ness and, upon their graduation, he
LEASED" chairs to them and they then
became "self-employed." Fresno stated
that he resorted to this procedure be-
cause the girls were inexperienced and
he could not afford to pay them the
minimum wage prescribed for the
beauty parlor industry under the
Minimum Wage Law. Charged with
violation of the Workmen's Compen-
sation Law at both of his places Of
business, Fresno, in the District Court
Of Nassau County at Hampstead, was
represented by an attorney who stated
to the Court that he had advised Pres
no. to resort to the "student" and
"leased chair arrangement. A form
al "lease" between Fresno and his
students" provided that if girl had
received S12 in weekly wages prior to
) her "lease," she now retained all the
money she received up to $12 per
week; money received by her beyond
that amount went to Fresno as rent
and as payment for the materials he
supplied. Fresno submitted copy of
4 "lease" as evidence, but the Court
held that it was merely subterfuge
to evade the Compensation and Labor
Laws and found the defendant guilty
h~+l IL, n IL, L
Court imposed the fine of $50 and sus-
pended sentence on the other.
In the other case Florence Kugel-
man, who conducts beauty parlor at
goo East 18th Street, New York City,
claimed that she was conducting a
"beauty school, and that the four per-
sons working there were students. :"
She admitted that she was paid for the
work her "students" did, but denied
that she paid them anything, though
occasionally they received tips. On her
arraignment in Magistrates Court,
the Labor Department produced evil
dence to show that one of her "stu-
dents" had been with Miss Kugelman
for one year and another for nine
months; that they worked without su-
pervision; that Miss kugelman CON
Quoted a beauty parlor for profit, and
that her income was derived from the
services performed by the alleged
students. Further the Department
contended, even if her workers were
merely apprentices, compensation in
surance TO cover them was required.
Found guilty by the Court, sentence
was stayed to permit Miss Kugelman
an opportunity to procure compensa-
ton insurance, policy for which she
produced the nominal fine of IS.
One of the most severe penalties to
be imposed for failure to carry COM
pensation insurance was the three
months prison term to which Hyman
Cohen of 40 South Fourth Street,
Brooklyn, was recently sentenced in
the Court of Special Sessions, Kings
County. Cohen is engaged in trans
porting, erecting and dismanteling
heavy machinery. One Of his employees,
Oliver T. DeStefano, while dismantle-
ing an elevator fell down the shaft and
suffered injuries from which he died.
Charged with failure to carry compen-
sation insurance Cohen pleaded not
guilty, denying that DeStafano was in
his employ. Police record of the ia
tai accident, however, proved the
employer relationship. The
Court, consisting Of three Justices,
was unanimous in it's verdict of guilty
and in the three months Jail sentence.
A rather involved attempt at
evasion of the Workmen's Compensa-
ton Law was brought to the atten-
tion of the Labor Department by a
discharged employe who disclosed that
while he had been employed in the
stone cutting plant of James Bon
giovanni, 1910 Longwood Avenue,
Bronx, he, with others, had been COM
PEELED to sign papers purporting to set
up partnership relations between Bon
giovanni and his employees. The De-
partment Investigator found five men
working in the Bongiovani plant but
they and Bongiovani denied that they