Skin Care News

My friend & I treat each other to Burke Williams Spa every year for our birthdays. The last tme we went to the spa was in September of 07. I accidently left my diamond stud earrings in the pocket of my robe!!!! The manager looked for the earrings and said they always search the pockets of the robe. To no avail they said they couldnt find the $5,000 earrings!!! So I will never go back to this spa. I feel they are dishonest. Someone took my earrings!!!
I would love to talk to the owners of Burke Williams, they are nice people, I did work at the Mission Viego Spa when they were newly opened. So this is my story and I am disappointed that the earrings were not returned. The earrings were a gift from my husband for one of our anniversaries.
Thank you for the opportunity to tell my story.
Linda L Morita

The Truth about Burke Williams

Does this popular Day Spa hold to the values they claim to? A day spa known for “Going Beyond the Spa”, the things to which only employees are privy. In my opinion…

A place to relax and escape the cares of the day, but what happens behind the scenes? Employees are reminded of “policy” constantly. Policies that are not a problem on their face, but are in their application.

Unfortunately we live in a society where individuals take liberties beyond toleration. There is no exception here. Clients have been known, on occasion, to forget that all sessions at this day spa are strictly professional & therapeutic. Sadly, this is to be expected yet not appreciated, however, the application of this well known company’s policy regarding sexual harassment/assault leave a bit to be desired. The police are rarely, if ever, called if a client is in the wrong, but if the therapist is accused the weight of the company is brought down in full force. For those out-of-line clients, the harshest punishment enforced or implemented by Burke Williams is to escort the individual from the location and a call is later placed asking them not to return. Mind you, since it has not been Burke William’s policy, until recently, to check IDs in order to assure the privacy of the clients, it is entirely possible that the client has given a fake name & contact information thus leaving any recourse virtually impossible. Not to mention, that if the client is asked to leave, his bill for the service is not paid.

If by chance, the Burke William’s employee opts to go to the police on their own, an entirely new beast wields its ugly head. Support is given in a verbal form, but the underlying recourse is far from supportive. In one case, after a 9 month spar with the police and Burke Williams, the attacker was finally located. Burke Williams actually had his correct information and name the whole time. Some victims don’t even get that far. Most are asked to keep it to themselves and counseled to get over it quietly and move on. This person learned the hard way that going to the police was not in her best interest. Her schedule got surprisingly lighter in the following months, she was called into the offices of department managers and corporate managers more times than can be counted, the path she was carving toward management disappeared, there was a surprising amount of clients on her table that had notes in their profiles that stated their contact information was incorrect and when they were called and reminded of their appointment, they stated that they didn’t have an appointment yet while whomever was on the table would ask questions during their service regarding her work, her managers, etc. Although having mystery shoppers is not rare, the posibility that the one male and one female shopper a month happened to be placed in here room multiple times, wasn't likely a mistake. The list is endless. Towards the end of her employ with this company, she was written up twice for unexplainable instances. Once from a secret employee that said she was negative in the break room, to which she was, illegally, told that she was not allowed to speak negatively about Burke Williams ever at the risk of being fired, thus eliminating any first amendment rights of free speech. In the year or more that proceeded the attack, she kept the situation hidden from the majority of employees so as to respect her work environment, to show loyalty to the company, and her professionalism.

A lawyer was hired, but the strength of this company is greater that expected and she was not able to endure it, which is precisely why no one hears of these travesties. She spent many painful hours deciding whether to share this, but at the end of the day, no one wants anyone to endure something like this at the hands of a thoughtless individual and a money-hungry company that thinks that employees are a dime a dozen. A sentiment each Burke Employee employee is all too familiar with. One may ask why anyone stays there. Burke Williams is one of the few companies who offers benefits, they are well-known and it looks great on a resume. They recruit rookies who have few other places to go. But most importantly, the crew is a family. It’s hard to leave it all behind.

Meanwhile, the employees are consistently getting written reminders of the severe punishments that await if an employee crosses those harassment lines with a client. They can and will call the police and have the employee escorted from the facility in handcuffs, fired and have the full weight of Burke Williams against them, is the message. Yet if an employee is attacked, they will simple escort them from the building and ask them not to return. No police called, no statements taken, no recourse, except to ensure that the employee keeps their mouth shut. Not only is this an immoral practice, but also a dangerous one, putting all local massage therapists and estheticians at risk for repeat offenders.

Burke Williams is well equipt with security cameras, at the front desk, in the break room, and outside the building. None of which, they claim, show faces clearly enough to actually be useful in identifying thieves or attackers.

Periodically throughout the years tips will wind up missing. This always causes an undercurrent of suspicion and frustration amongst the employees, many of whom depend on their tips for their income. Not withstanding some recent changes most therapists make less than 20% of the cost of a service.

The extent of this popular day spa’s unlawful and unethical practices does not stop here. The amount of injured employees due to the repetitive and strenuous labor is great. Their own employees and specialists advise them that the mandatory routines and the limited rest time between clients is the cause, but nothing is done. When an employee is finally injured and cannot work, another fight begins. The injured employee is questioned as to if the injury was really work-related, even though the amount of injured employees proves it is. There is a huge runaround with the workers comp documents. It is a known common practice that getting the documents properly completed in a timely manner is not a top priority. Some employees wait months before any form of a check comes in. Some employees wait months and finally have to quit to be able to support themselves, never having received workers comp. Many are sent back to work to perform modified duties that exacerbate their injuries. Many of the Burke William approved doctors send the employees back to work without even remedying the injury. Few are sent to physical therapy.

State mandated breaks are not often, if ever given. Those working 4 hour shifts, which includes almost all Massage Therapists, are not given any breaks. A 10 minute break should be given close to the midpoint of the shift, but is not. If the therapist has a full shift, there is maybe a minute or two between clients after picking them up down stairs, allowing them to get on the table, working on them for 50 minutes, walking them back down stairs, coming back up to change the sheets and heading back down for the next client. The break would allow muscles to cool down and would help avoid injury, but that would mean fewer clients and less money for the company. The computer systems that were put in about 2 years ago after another issue are programmed to show that employees receive their mandated brakes, but they are not actually given.

With regards to illness and shift coverage, employees are required to find replacements for themselves with few exceptions. This seems like a typical business practice, but consider the sick employee who wakes up with the flu, a cold, pink eye, or any other number of illnesses that you would not want your therapist, esthetician, or spa attendant to have while touching you or your towels. Employees frequently have to work while ill. If there is no fever, it is assumed it is not contagious and therefore deemed safe to work on a client. Since it is almost impossible to get shift coverage on short notice, many employees are forced to work on their clients while sick.

Some Burke Williams employees try to find the limited free street parking available which are blocks away on dark secluded streets, as recommended by the management. The fear of safety is swept away even though an employee was attacked on her way to her car. Not only did the police not do anything about it, but Burke Williams didn’t warn the rest of the employees to be careful.

A new practice recently in effect was dropping the majority of the employees pay by up to 25% without warning. This was done under the pretense of a last resort to keep the company from going under. A company that just opened it’s 9th location and that took all employees to Disneyland just a month prior to the decrease in pay. Many employees were told they had to drop one shift a week along with their pay decrease. Many seasoned & newer employees had to quit or take on a second job. Taking a second job is discouraged if it is in the same career field as their Burke Williams position. If employees are found to be working a second job within their same field they are asked to quit one of the jobs. Under California State labor laws this practice is illegal. The Labor Code is 96(k), which is in the purview of the Labor Commissioner- "claims for loss of wages as the result of demotion, suspension, or discharge from employment for lawful conduct occurring during nonworking hours away from the employer's premises" (such as having another job). Burke Williams has each employee sign a form that forbids employees from their legal right to work at another facility under the pretense of “Conflict of Interest”, yet only enforces the practice for some of their employees.

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