Now that she’s sort of famous on the tee-vee, Real Housewives of New York City dud star, Cindy Barshop has found herself the subject of guess what? A Lawsuit! Congratulations Cindy – you’re nobody in America till somebody sues you.
According to the New York Post, it seems Cindy, owner of Completely Bare Spas – which will dot your lady parts with glitz and glam for a hefty fee- has been slammed with a racial discrimination suit from a former employee.
Altovise Collie – who was let go in March – claims she was fired on the grounds of her race after being subjected to harassment and unequal pay at the hands of Completely Bare employees and Cindy herself. Collie, who is African-American and relocated from Atlanta for the job, states she was hired after a phone interview, but when she arrived at Completely Bare’s Fifth Avenue Flagship location things changed: “They were very impressed with me — until they saw me. I was treated like trash and thrown in the gutter, damn near sleeping in the streets. Everyone treated me badly, like I was in some sort of sorority hazing.”
Collie, who maintains she was the only black beautician at Completely Bare, further complains that her co-workers accused her of being hired only to “inject some color” into the spa, because the “spa” which specializes in Vajazzling was expanding nationally. Did you hear that guys – rhinestone vajayjays coming to a town near you! YAY!
In addition to facing harassment for her race, Collie asserts she was paid only half of the weekly $700 salary of other employees and paid only in cash, which prevented her from being able to rent an apartment. Collie also accuses her co-workers responsible for training her of withholding pertinent information about the waxing process resulting in employee complaints. Apparently when Collie had a sit down with Ms. Cindy Barshop – who we know from RHoNYC is obsessed with things being fair – about the treatment she was receiving and the inadequate training provided, she was fired a week later! Collie’s lawyer, Lenard Leeds, alleges: “From Day One, she wasn’t given the same training, she wasn’t given the same money.”
Well of course, Cindy is fighting back is now figthing back against the allegations: “The allegations are 100 percent not true and we can prove it.” In a statement released to RumorFix, Cindy explains: “She wasn’t fired because of her race, she was fired because of the quality of her work. Customers were complaining about her, so I retrained her myself, but when there was no improvement, I had to let her go. It had nothing to do with race. We have salons across the country with employees from several different races and backgrounds, so her claim that she was the only black employee is ridiculous.”
Cindy also goes onto reveal that Ms Altovise Collie has some C-list celebrity aspirations of her own: “She is trying to be a model now so I guess this is her way of trying to get her fifteen minutes of fame. She was never hazed. It’s all just lies and she wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t on a reality TV show.”
Who do you believe? Does Altovise Collie have a case or is she just trying to get some publicity? Has anyone visited a Completely Bare Spa? If so, what was your experience?
