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Legal question

Estheticians and massage therapists work at the same location (for the same owner).

Estheticians get paid per service and per hour when not performing a service.

Massage therapists get paid only for massages performed and nothing per hour when not performing a massage.

Everyone is responsible for laundry and housekeeping regardless of pay/no pay.

Aside from recommending to quit working for owner, is such an arrangement for massage therapists legal?

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Permalink Reply by Carrie Patrick on April 24, 2013 at 9:28am

I would look at just your own individual situation, since the other people working there might have a different arrangement with the business owner.

Are you working as an employee or an independent contractor? It sounds like the estheticians are being treated as W-9 employees (whether or not they ARE, is another question) and the massage therapists are being treated as independent contractors (again, whether or not you actually ARE is the big question). If you're an independent contractor, you are self-employed, so being paid only for massages performed is normal, but that also means you would set your own working hours and not be expected to come in and hang around all day doing nothing if you don't have bookings.

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Permalink Reply by Relax & Rejuvenate on May 4, 2013 at 2:39pm

Depends

If both are independent contractors, the esthticians are being paid illegally. You can only pay an indpendent contractor for a jobs/project/end result -- ie an anti aging facial. Anything else that goes into creating that end result is the ICs problem and is not compensation separately from the job itself.

If either are ICs and are required to be on site during set hours, they are being illegally classified as ICs when they are actually employees.

if both are employees, then it is perfectly legal. Lawyers get paid a salary and bonus, paralegals get paid by the hour. Same location, same owner, different jobs.

So long as all employees earn no less than (minimum wage * hours) worked for the time on site, then they are being paid within the legal bounds -- and in some states, tips get counted in the calcuation for reaching minimum wage.

But why do you care what the esthticians are making if you are a massage therapist?

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Permalink Reply by Stacey Freitag on May 6, 2013 at 6:21pm

Just curious, who do you think is making more in the average month where your at, the massage therapist or the esthetician?

Im asking because maybe the estheticians are not nearly as busy as the massage therapists? If thats the case, it could be part of the reason why they are being paid hourly as well as service.

Is this a franchise by any chance?

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Permalink Reply by Eileen Violet on June 6, 2013 at 8:02am

Contact the EECO in your state and explain the situation.

Are you all employees or contractors? Are the estheticians required to sit and wait for appointments, are you? In reply to the above comment, it doesnt' matter who earns more at the end of the month, massage is hard work, and we deserve to be fairly compensated for our labor. PERIOD. Just because the estheticans aren't busy, doesn't mean they deserve a higher pay scale!!!