Legal Question in Employment Law in California
Hourly employee, commission, or subcontract?
I am a Massage Therapist employed by a Chiropractor. I am paid a set amount for every 60 min. or 30 min. massage. I am not paid for the required 15 min. between each massage or the duties done in that time. I am also not paid for clients that ''no-show'' or cancel with less than 24 hours notice. Taxes are taken out of my paycheck and I am told that I can't Massage anywhere else...not even my spouse or child at home. I have only been asked to sign HIPA privacy policies; no other contracts or agreements of any kind. Is this legal? Should I be paid for the time worked between massages? Can they really forbid me to massage my family?
Thank You for your time. Any help or information you can give me would be greatly apppreciated. Thanks Again.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Hourly employee, commission, or subcontract?
Based upon what you have written, the people you work for have absolutely no idea what they are doing or what your rights are. They simply do whatever is convenient for them.
First, you should know you certainly can massage your family. That is just obsurd that they tell you what you can do in the privacy of your home.
The fact that they exert so much control over your activities and that they make deductions from your paychek is a very strong indication that the law will recognize you as an employee. This means that they must pay your for all hours you are under their control, including the time between massage therapies and the no-shows.
It sounds as though there may be more potential problems than you are even aware of. You should meet with a labor law attorney in your County and find out what other rights are being violated.
Re: Hourly employee, commission, or subcontract?
I have to agree with Mr. Kirschbaum. Not being able to have physical contact with your family violates public policy, and although it is legal not to ask you to sign contracts, if you are an employee (and the level of control indicates YES), they must pay you for all time spent, period, on the job.
I hope that this answer helps, but if you have other questions, want more information, or feel that you need legal representation, please feel free to email me directly at [email protected]. I'm happy to help in any way that I can.
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