Licensing
Under the apprenticeship program, an apprentice performing massage, colonics or other types of bodywork can legally be on-site training, under a sponsoring therapist. Apprentices are required to be under direct supervision of the sponsoring massage therapist. Direct supervision indicates that the apprentice may not conduct a treatment without the sponsor nearby. The apprentice is not there to act as an employee. Nonetheless, the establishment is not prohibited from charging for the apprentice’s services; a common practice in the beauty school industry.
The intent of the apprentice program is to offer an in-field alternative to the massage school environment. This would be especially important to the colonic hydrotherapist apprentice as many of the best and most experienced colonic hydrotherapists are committed to their long term private practices and are not situated in an actual school.
Clients, of course, need to be informed before the therapy if the person working on him or her is an apprentice and permission should be obtained.
NCBTMB Standard of Practice IV (j) says “do not exploit the trust and dependency of others, including clients and employees/co-workers.” “Refrain from any behavior which results in illegal, discriminatory, or unethical actions,” is NCBTMB Standard of Practice II (b).
“Delegating professional responsibilities to a person when the licensee delegating such responsibilities knows or has reason to know that such person is not qualified by training, experience or licensure to perform…” is grounds for disciplinary action by the board.” No matter what experience the owner has in the field, it remains their responsibility to make sure employees are trained in the tasks they are allowed or assigned to perform. On the other hand, if another therapist is put in charge of assigning duties or is in a managerial position, the responsibility may fall on them as well.
There are certain instances where an establishment can get quite busy and a therapist can get thrown into a situation they are not trained for. The best thing they can do is make it clear to the management at the time they are hired what they are trained in, to avoid that incident.
The author recalls having a massage at a well known spa. It was obvious the massage therapist had no training whatsoever. She even tried to discreetly hide the text book she was copying massage strokes from, while she worked…amazing.
In that particular jurisdiction, the establishment would only have suffered a citation. Of course, when enough of those are gotten (three in that city), the authorities have the right to pull the establishment license on the grounds that the repeated citations prove the owner incapable of lawfully running the business. Also, in many jurisdictions, anyone caught massaging without a license is automatically denied a license later.
NCBTMB Standard of Practice IV(e) states ”honestly represent all professional qualifications and affiliations.” It is unlawful to make deceptive, untrue or fraudulent representations in the practice if massage.” Qualifications are important but it is the quality of the work and sincerity that will make the biggest impression on the client.
A license to practice is the first and most important qualification. An unlicensed person may be able to seek a position in a hungry establishment but will probably be low man on the totem pole and risks being unexpectedly gotten rid of if the owner feels threatened.
Willingness to study and deal openly with the Board will help the therapist obtain a license and good judgment will insure they keep it.
Modern technology allows some agencies to link; information is gathered in the blink of an eye. If an applicant has had a license revoked, suspended, or otherwise acted against, even in another territory, it is likely to be discovered. Florida Law 480.046 (c) explains that being convicted of a crime relating to massage or being convicted of something which affected the right to massage is grounds for denial of license or discipline by the Board.
While these are grounds for denial, it would be better to appeal to the mercy of the Board which has the power to decide if a license will be issued.
Attempting to procure a license by bribery or fraudulent misrepresentation are more grounds for denial.
Bribery is the offer or acceptance of anything of value in exchange for influencing a government/public official or employee.
Fraudulent misrepresentation would be intentional lying. The Florida licensing application, as with all such applications, has a declaration section in which the applicant swears that everything they have written in the application is “true and correct.” If information on the document proves to be false, the Board reserves the right to deny suspend or revoke any license to practice in the state of Florida.
The Florida application contains an appearance clause. At the discretion of the Board, the applicant can be ordered to appear before the Board or before the Professionals Resource Network for the purpose of further investigating the application and of course the applicant. The Board does not have to show cause for this action, however they cite some of the reason why an appearance may be required.
Under the circumstance, it would appear more advantageous for the applicant to tell the truth and sway the Board then to risk adversely affecting their future with the Board.
The NCBTMB Standard of Practice II(c) says its certificates are required to “accept responsibility for their own actions."
Once a therapist has gotten their license, they pretty much hang on to it like a life raft. However, the author has known a few that made some bad choices that cost them dearly down the road. Kimberly is a good example.
Most jurisdictions are going to have a law that says “you may not let another person use your license.” (Florida is no different. ) Kimberly let the manager intimidate her into allowing an unlicensed person to use her ID badge to cover some shifts. Now, Kimberly thought that, since she wouldn’t be working on those days, if the fraud was discovered all she had to do would be deny, deny, deny. However, it wasn’t that simple.
The impersonator was cited for a serious misdemeanor. The authorities never realized the ID badge did not belong to the person they cited; dark hair, brown eye, that’s a match…..good enough.
The citation was paid but kept secret from Kimberly. When Kimberly went to renew her license, she was refused on the grounds of the citation. The licensing people refused to believe her story; she was not even at work on the day of the citation. After all, she was identified at the time. The manager would not dare admit to the authorities she abetted an unlicensed person as most jurisdictions have strict penalties.
The manager (realizing her narrow escape) let the real Kimberly go because she “cannot, after all, risk a citation for having an unlicensed worker,” now that Kimberly was denied her renewal.
What happened to the fake Kimberly? She has a nice shop in a ritzy part of town and a number of employees. When Kimberly asked her for a job, she acted insulted. Kimberly was unlicensable and that can kill camaraderie.
In Florida, for example, it is grounds for disciplinary action to aid, assist, procure, or advise an unlicensed person to practice massage or to make deceptive, untrue, or fraudulent representations in the practice of massage.
Many states and municipalities, including Florida, specifically forbid a licensee from allowing someone else to use his/her license. The establishment owner does not escape the law when it comes to allowing this to occur. The owner would be responsible for what goes on in the establishment.
Periodic inspections, as provided for in the law, make it difficult for someone to operate in secrecy and refusing to permit the department to inspect the establishment during regular business hours is forbidden.
Further, since there is a requirement for conspicuously posting licenses in the establishment, clients know who is and isn’t licensed. Ingratiating oneself to a client who has some particular incriminating information would be frustrating at best for the violators. Certainly, some clients look at licenses and there is no guarantee they will not tell the authorities or at the very least make the violator toady to them because of their inside information. Clients inform other therapists in other establishments, as well.
Some therapists monitor other businesses looking for such things so that they can complain to the authorities, wrongly thinking it will increase their business if they remove some of the competition instead of working on their skills. Others just want to protect their profession and make certain unqualified persons do not give the industry a bad rap.
When individual municipalities preside over the industry, complications ensue. Some of the problems are: having to start a new application procedure when transferring to a new town, outrageous licensing fees, and extreme regulations.
The municipal laws are usually thought up by non-therapists. Those initiating regulatory ideas are often massage school owners and police departments. Therapists have some say but often they are treated like the enemy if the municipality has had recurring problems with prostitutes posing as massage therapists.
Under state licensing, there is a trend for massage boards, such as Florida’s, to be made up in part by experienced therapists who help make the rules and oversee the industry. The rules then are more inclined to make sense and not be designed to punish a whole industry.
Nearly all states agree on the basic laws like those discussed previously. Another thing that nearly all states and municipalities agree on is sanitation and continuing education.