An Oregon salon owner who reopened her business in defiance of state stay-at-home orders has been fined $14,000 and claims child protecti...
An Oregon salon owner who reopened her business in defiance of state stay-at-home orders has been fined $14,000 and claims child protective services investigated her home after she opened her workplace's doors.
Lindsey Graham, the owner of Glamour Salon in Salem, reopened on May 5 in violation of Gov. Kate Brown’s executive order as Marion County has not been approved for reopening yet.
Graham said she had to open up her salon to pay her bills and provide for her family, including her three young children, but was hit with the massive fine, she announced Friday.
'At this point, I’m deciding that it’s more important for me to feed my family and pay the bills that are going to keep our home and our family alive than take the risk to remain being shut down for an undisclosed amount of time,' Graham said to KPTV.
She claims that two days later on May 7 the state retaliated against her by dispatching Child Protective Services (CPS), a subsidiary state's Department of Human Services, to her home to see if she was a fit mother.
Oregon salon owner Lindsey Graham reopened her business Glamour Salon on May 5 in defiance of the state's lockdown orders
On Friday she announced she was hit with a $14,000 fine by the state and that child protective services arrived to her home to investigate her
'On May 7 child protective services showed up at my home. They questioned my husband and I. Questioned my child without me present. They searched our home,' she said as tears welled up in her eyes during a press conference Friday
'On May 7 child protective services showed up at my home. They questioned my husband and I. Questioned my child without me present. They searched our home,' she said as tears welled up in her eyes during a press conference Friday.
'And I never expected such a violent, aggressive, vindictive thing could ever be done to me or my family because I’m trying to earn a living. Because I’m trying to work,' Graham added.
Graham is a mother to three kids: a six-year-old son, a three-year-old girl and an eight-week-old son.
A spokesman for Oregon Department of Child Protective Services tells DailyMail.com they cannot comment on whether an open assessment is taking place, but stresses that failure to follow the state's stay-at-home order would not prompt an investigation.
'I want to stress however, that not following Governor Brown’s Stay Home, Save Lives executive order or not following physical distancing guidelines would never be a reason to assign a CPS assessment,' Press Secretary for Oregon's Department of Human Services Jake Sunderland said.
In Oregon a CPS safety assessment is conducted after Child Welfare receives a report of suspected abuse or neglect and that tip is screened before case workers are sent out.
Graham said that on Thursday OSHA decided to give her a $14,000 fine for operating 'a hazardous facility for my employees'.
Graham said she had to open up her salon to pay her bills and provide for her family, including her three young children, but was hit with the massive fine. Pictured on Facebook working at her salon
Graham pictured with staffers at Glamour Salon in Salem on their social media page
A view inside the Salem salon pictured above. 'I’m vowing to stay open as long as I can, basically, until the governor tries to take my entire career, something I’ve worked 15 years for, out from underneath me,' she said Friday
Graham claims that's untrue because she hires independent contractors who choose to work at her salon.
'Upon issuing that citation, which will come next week I am told, I will have three days to shut my doors or they will shut my doors or they will cite me yet again for another issue that is once again not legal,' she said Friday.
'The past 10 days when all I've wanted to do was support my family…I’m being threatened and intimidated and bullied daily by the government,' Graham stated.
'Everyone’s job is essential, not because what we do or how we do it, but because it’s how we make our living,' she added.
Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) confirmed the fine saying the penalty reflects 'both the nature of the violation and the employer’s willfull decision to violate the law,' according to CNN.
Graham is a mother to three kids, a six-year-old son, a three-year-old girl and an eight-week-old son. Pictured in 2016 social media photo holding one of her newborn children
'She is unquestionably operating in violation of the governor’ executive order, designed to protect workers and the public,' a spokeswoman said.
In Oregon a willful violation, which is Graham’s case, has a minimum penalty of $8,900 ranging up towards $126,000 based on the size of the employer and level of risk they generate.
On May 15 more than 30 counties in Oregon were approved to start reopening, but not Marion County, which covers Salem.
Under phase 1 of reopening restaurants and bars will allow dine-in services until 10pm, personal service businesses and retailers would be opened.
Still, Graham is defiant that she will stay open.
'I’m vowing to stay open as long as I can, basically, until the governor tries to take my entire career, something I’ve worked 15 years for, out from underneath me,' she said Friday.
Graham also claimed that municipal authorities in Salem threatened to terminate her salon’s lease because the property is leased from the city.
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