A new federal lawsuit is targeting California’s labor rules, and the state’s Vietnamese-American nail technicians are at the center of the fight.
Filed at the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Santa Ana, the lawsuit argues that a 2020 law, Assembly Bill 5, stripped nail technicians of their right to work as independent contractors, which violates the 14th Amendment’s promise of equal protection.
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The change has shaken up an industry with many immigrant employees from Vietnam. That industry also generates about $3 billion a year, according to the Pro Nails Association.
Representative of Little Saigon, California Assemblyman Tri Ta (R-Westminster), confirmed fear and frustration are flooding his office, and it’s impossible to ignore.
"Their lives have turned upside down overnight," Ta said at a news conference. "It is not just unfair, it is discrimination."
While some are critical of the law, which has turned their livelihoods upside down, labor advocates argue it’s a step toward ensuring a workforce that is often overlooked and underpaid, earns fair, stable wages.
More rules, more costs
In 2019, California passed Assembly Bill 5, a law that redefined how companies classify workers. The law stemmed from a 2018 Supreme Court ruling against Dynamex Operations West, which had misclassified delivery drivers as independent contractors to cut costs. The assembly bill established ground rules for who can be an independent contractor.
Under the new law, workers must meet three conditions to be classified as contractors. These include working independently, performing tasks outside the company’s core business and offering their services to other clients. If not, they must be treated as employees, with protections including minimum wage, overtime pay, workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance.
For nail salon owners, this shift isn’t in their favor. An Tran, who owns two Happy Nails & Spa franchises, is taking the state to court, arguing the rules impede how salons operate day-to-day. Turning contractors into full-time employees means higher payroll costs, higher insurance and tighter margins for owners, who also deal with overhead costs such as rent and supplies.
"We don’t have customers all the time. That’s going to cost us a lot more to pay them for the downtime when they don’t have any customers," Tran told the LA Times.
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A community under fire
This fight is also about community. Many Vietnamese refugees turned to nail salons in the late 1970s as a way to rebuild their lives in America. Decades later, that legacy endures. More than 82% of California nail technicians are Vietnamese, and about 85% are women, according to the lawsuit.
“Vietnamese American manicurists have faced blatant discrimination under California’s labor laws, stripped of the same rights and freedoms afforded to others in their industry,” Scott Wellman, attorney for the plaintiffs, said in a statement to KTLA 5. “If the State of California refuses to fix this injustice, we are prepared to hold them accountable in federal court.”
Worker advocates add that the lawsuit highlights deeper issues of exploitation across the industry. A UCLA Labor Center report found nearly 80% of nail salon workers earn pay at or below two-thirds of the median full-time wage, more than double the national low-wage rate for all workers. Beyond low wages, many salons are reportedly concerned about health and safety conditions as well.
Former nail technician Pabitra Dash confirmed those risks firsthand. She and her husband struggled with miscarriages while she was working in the salon industry. Once she quit, she was finally able to carry her baby to term. While her doctor never pinned the miscarriages on the chemicals she used at her job, Dash said she and her husband felt relieved they had a child after she left.
“(My doctor) said, ‘It’s really good for your health and your baby,’” Dash told NBC News.
Stoicism has been the response of many workers, who are worried that speaking up could cost them shifts or even their jobs.
The federal lawsuit has turned nail salons into the latest flashpoint in California’s struggle to balance gig work with fair labor protections. Salon owners fear that stricter rules might make it harder to keep their doors open, while many technicians quietly worry they’ll lose their employee rights.
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