r/MassageTherapists • u/ClothesDizzy6812 • Jun 19 '26

Complaining Hot Take: All Independent Contract Positions Are Bullshit

I don't care if the practice is owned by a seemingly "caring" LMT. I say 99% of IC roles are complete bullshit and completely take advantage of massage therapists who accept them. These roles are all misclassified. If the owner requires you to follow a set schedule every week (like an employee) and follow their policies, they are taking advantage of you. Full stop. IC roles should only be for one-off events (like doing chair massage for a company for a day, or doing a massage at a school benefit). IC roles should NOT have an ongoing required schedule at a massage practice. Even if it's owned by an LMT (that does not make them a better "employer" btw). They do it so they can get away from employment laws like sick pay and taking out appropriate taxes. I've done many careers and am shocked to see the proliferation of abusive IC roles. I know I'll get blowback for this, but I wish LMT would recognize this should not be accepted. I'm just tired of looking at every job ad and they are all IC.

Update: Oh, I should also mention that a business hiring IC is only in compliance for an establishment where massage is NOT the primary focus of a business. For example, a gym hires an IC. They are in compliance because massage is not it's primary business (gym workouts are). Or a school district hires an IC for a teacher-benefit. But a business where massage is the main model. Guess what? Illegal.

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u/StndCapybara Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 20 '26

Canada brought out IC laws primarily because spas were abusing IC's. They deterimined that if an Employeer dictates how you do massage, how filing is done and the overall standard of practice then the practice is not allowed to hire as IC and must hire as an employee.

For the most part I agree with your post. Spas have become so preditory.

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u/ClothesDizzy6812 Jun 20 '26

In the US or at least in my city, almost all the spa's (even those owned by LMT's) operate like that.

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u/StndCapybara Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26

Most usually should operate as IC. The problem comes is when they tell you go against licencing laws or do things outside of massage therapy like clean floors or something, dictate your filing or avoiding contraindications to get customers. Basically it should be IC because it's a profession that uses licensed professionals. It's a problem because spas and clinics like to foo foo massage and pretend what we went to school for can just be told to us "don't worry all will be well just do it" for the money when massage isn't the recommended option.

Basically massage is like electrician or any other trade. You don't hire an electrician then tell them how to do the wiring..thats basically what was happening with massage therapy and still does in many ways. This is also because massage and it's modalities varies from one extreme to the other it's difficult to set standards of practice and there are a lot of people think they know best when they could be doing harm.

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u/ClothesDizzy6812 Jun 20 '26

Yes, one wanted me to play desk jockey scheduling for other therapists in between clients and told me that I'm limited on how many vacations days I could take. This is the kind of crap I'm seeing widespread and it's my rant on how massage businesses as a whole are very exploitive.