Elmont-based Clowns.com sued by former clowns for back wages

Here's a federal lawsuit that's no laughing matter.

A quartet of former clowns and party entertainers have filed suit against their Nassau County-based former employer, arguing they're owed years of back wages for their time traveling to and from parties where they painted children's faces, crafted balloon animals and pulled rabbits out of hats.

The suit, filed in Manhattan's Southern District on Tuesday, contends that Clowns.com, which has a warehouse on Meacham Avenue in Elmont, violated federal and state laws by mischaracterizing their employees as independent contractors to avoid paying them hourly wages and overtime during the past six and a half years.

Attorneys for the four plaintiffs are seeking to expand the suit to class action status, potentially drawing in dozens of current and former employees.

“These are folks who worked a fixed schedule, couldn't decide when and how they worked and were given specific training, work equipment and work tools by the defendants,” said Hugh Baran, the plaintiffs' Manhattan-based attorney. “They didn't get to set the rate at which they worked. Weren't able to decide which days they could work … In reality, they were employees, not independent contractors.”

The suit, which does not seek a dollar amount, names George Adolph Rodriguez and Erica Barbuto, the owners and operators of Clowns.com, which provides entertainers — including clowns and costumed characters from Scooby Doo to Batman — for children's parties.

Messages left at the company Wednesday were not returned.

The federal complaint was brought by former Clowns.com employees Brayan Angulo and Xander Black, both 25 and of Washington Heights; Cameron Pille, 25, of Harlem; and Janina Salorio, 28, of Floral Park, who allege violations of New York State labor law and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

Salorio worked as a clown from January 2018 through the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. The complaint alleges Rodriguez did not believe the pandemic was real and regularly sent Salorio QAnon conspiracy videos disputing the virus and its effects.

Salorio eventually found a new job as a music teacher in August 2020 but lost the position four months later when Rodriguez called her new employer to insist she was “nothing but problems and drama,” the suit states. 

“I loved entertaining for kids while at Clowns.com, but management misled us about the nature of the job,” Salorio said. “They promised us wages of $25 per hour, but they said we weren’t employees and we weren’t paid for all the hours that we worked. We’re fighting to put an end to their illegal practices.”

Baran accuses Clowns.com of a bait and switch in which the company recruited young, out-of-work actors to perform at children's parties, promising them hourly wages for all the hours they worked, including the time spent traveling from the Elmont warehouse to pick up the costumes, between parties and when “checking out” at the end of the shift.

But the complaint contends the company paid them only for the hours they were performing. Clowns.com, Baran said, also refused to pay its employees the required overtime premium when they worked more than 40 hours in a week. 

In addition, the clowns were required to pay the defendants between $5 and $10 per shift, with company officials citing the rent or insurance of equipment as the stated reason, records show.

On May 6, 2023, Pille was in a company car with another clown, raising concerns about the company's pay practices, including its failure to provide pay stubs, the suit states. The driver of the vehicle, another company employee, promptly reported the conversation to the defendants, who immediately terminated Pille, according to the suit.

“For years, Clowns.com has treated clowns, who are largely young actors with no prior training in clowning who sign up for this job to make ends meet, as independent contractors,” Pille said in a statement. “I’m proud to join with my clown colleagues to stand up to their wage theft and misclassification.”

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.