Feds: High-end Ohio spa demanded workers repay training costs, sign non-compete deals

At Juvly Aesthetics health spa, workers weren't allowed to discuss their pay, talk about their bosses or evaluations – even with coworkers. If they did, they could get fired and charged tens of thousands of dollars for the cost of training them.

The National Labor Relations Board said the high-end spa was breaking the law. The Columbus-based company with locations in Cincinnati and across the nation has agreed to settle the labor dispute with three former employees and abandon what federal officials deemed were "unlawful non-compete" practices.

Prior to the settlement, the company had targeted three unidentified former employees with demands they pay up to $75,000 to cover the costs of training them before leaving the company – a practice that "cut off employees’ ability to leave their job," the board's Cincinnati regional director Eric Taylor said in a statement.

Employees were also forced to sign restrictive confidentiality, non-disparagement, non-compete, no-solicitation contracts that federal labor officials deemed illegal and violated workers' rights.

At least one of the three former employees worked at the company's downtown Cincinnati spa. Juvly Aesthetics' different services range from $99 to $3,000 and include wrinkle relaxers, fillers, body contouring, microneedling, laser treatments, and skin care, according to its website.

Under terms of the settlement, Juvly agreed to pay two of the former employees more than $25,000 in back pay. It also agreed to post "remedial" notices in all 10 of its U.S. locations that inform employees of their right to discuss their pay, hours and work conditions. The notices will also inform workers they won't be targeted for training costs if they leave the company.

"Training repayment and non-compete provisions like these, that in practice cut off employees’ ability to leave their job, interfere with employees’ exercising their rights," Taylor said in a statement announcing the settlement.

Officials with Juvly Aesthetics did not respond to multiple phone messages, emails, and web site chat requests.

Non-compete agreements have been targeted by the Biden Administration, which claims they restrict competition for workers and depress wages.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Juvly Aestetics reforms 'unlawful' non-compete and other practices