The owner of a Texas salon who was recently jailed for keeping her business open despite government orders received funds from the government’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) days before her court hearing where she was sentenced to jail.
During an appearance on ABC’s “The View” on Monday, Shelley Luther, the owner of a Dallas salon, explained why she kept her business open despite receiving $18,000 from the PPP.
“What happened was, I already had the court date and I had already been open the entire time,” Luther said, adding, “There was $18,000 dropped in my bank account with no notice of what it was.”
She explained that she wanted to receive more information about the requirements for how businesses are supposed to spend the money before closing her salon and potentially winding up with more debt by not spending the funds correctly.
“So, I get no instructions. I think it’s one of the loans, but I don’t know how I’m supposed to spend it, what I’m supposed to spend it on. I know there’s guidelines and regulations to that. And I didn’t want to put myself in deeper debt by spending it the wrong way and also having to close the salon. So, until I got further instruction on that, I didn’t want to spend it.”
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Additionally, Luther noted that the hairstylists at the salon are not her employees and are sub-leasing space in the salon, and she was not sure if she could distribute the funds to them.
“So I wasn’t sure if I was even able to give them any of that money as employees, because I don’t pay them,” she said.
Last week, Luther was sentenced to seven days in jail for violating Texas’ stay-at-home order, and a cease-and-desist order, to reopen her salon. The decision to sentence Luther to jail led to an outcry from the state’s governor and attorney general who called for her release, as IJR reported.
On May 7, Texas’ Supreme Court ruled that Luther be released from prison, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) eliminated jail time as a potential punishment for violating the state-at-home order.
Luther is not alone, many small businesses have said they would like to receive more guidance on how to use the funds to ensure that the loan is forgiven and they do not wind up with extra debt.