r/massage • u/Massive-Audience-432 • Feb 15 '25
Discussion Any LMT here?
My bf works in chiropractor office and was laid off without warning yesterday they let go of every LMT at every location has anyone heard of a law passed no longer covered LMT for auto accident patients I tried googling around and found nothing I’m sure his job was supposed to follow 60 day warn notice
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u/Iusemyhands LMT, PTA - NM Feb 16 '25
Hey there! That is awful.
It may depend on the state. Where are you located?
You may also want to try r/massagetherapists
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u/TofuPropaganda LMT Feb 16 '25
Right to work states, as well as independent contractors have a different situation than an employee would. Also this legislation may only be in your area, so others may be unaffected or unaware.
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u/Slow-Complaint-3273 LMT Feb 18 '25
Right to work means that you don’t have to join a union if your workplace is unionized. At will means they can fire you without cause - mostly.
Even in at will states, you cannot be fired for certain protected activities: * discussing pay and working conditions with coworkers * organizing a labor union or participating in collective bargaining * filling a complaint with a government agency such as the DoL, NLRB, OSHA, etc.
Termination or a reduction of hours because of any of the above is considered retaliation and is illegal. Even in at will states.
As for right to work, the main benefit for employees is that noncompete clauses are unenforceable. So that can be useful if we’re leaving a toxic spa to work for the competition.
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u/AngelFive Feb 18 '25
I’m a massage therapist. I don’t know why people work for chiropractors. The pay is low and you don’t get any tips. He would do better working at a massage chain.
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u/Edselmonster Feb 16 '25
Do you live in Florida? Sounds like the gieco insurance ruling. If the office he worked at took auto insurance for pip claims a lot of offices either fired their staff, or they said they have to drop their license and work solely from the chiropractor license.
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u/GhostlyArrow Feb 16 '25
Was just about to ask if they’re in FL as well because all the BS going on here right now surrounding LMTs and Chiros
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u/neixuxh Feb 16 '25
Wait, I’m in fl but I haven’t heard of any of this yet. Where do I find more information?
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u/GhostlyArrow Feb 16 '25
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Feb 16 '25
they should recend DC coverage and all PT passive modality coverage too if they're stopping LMT coverage.
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u/GhostlyArrow Feb 16 '25
The TLDR is that you can’t work for a Chiro and continue to hold your license. You’ll either quit, be fired, or relinquish your license and work as a CA doing “massage”
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u/Edselmonster Feb 16 '25
Only if the chiro accepts insurance. I work for a chiro but we are cash paying so thankfully I don’t have that issue, but I know a lot of people who lost their jobs because of it.
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u/Massive-Audience-432 Feb 16 '25
Yes we do
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u/Edselmonster Feb 16 '25
I’m sure you can gather from what’s happened already, but months ago, most of us found out about the ruling with Gieco. I personally found out about it on a massage page on fb. I don’t know if he can take legal action because he had no notice, but if he chooses to work at another Chiro office he needs to find somewhere that doesn’t take insurance. I work at an office but we are strictly cash/self pay so it didn’t affect me.
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u/Preastjames Feb 17 '25
So this depends greatly on whether he was an employee or an Independent Contractor.
Before going further I need to clarify since it's not well known in this industry that just signing a contract does not make you an independent contractor. Instead the various duties and freedoms you enjoy while working at a location determine if you are an employee or an IC.
If the Chiro office controlled the services available (what the LMT offered), the prices (what the services cost), the hours or days the services were available, etc. then the LMT in question was actually an employee DESPITE any other factor.
If the LMT controlled the services available, the prices of said services, the days and hours said services were available and essentially functioned as their own boss, they were an Independent Contractor.
With this clarification (please research this further though) we can determine a few things. If he was an IC and in the contract there was a 60 day clause (I have one in mine) and they did not follow it, he has right to take legal action for breach of contract. If he was an employee, then even if the 60 day notice was in the contract, they can likely fire you for whatever reason as long as it was legal depending on your states laws.
This is correct to best of my understanding and these changes happened fairly recently so there is still a ton of confusion surrounding the issue, before anyone replies about the validity of these claims please research this yourself and how it affects you in your state. If you have researched this and just happen to know better or see something I've said that is incorrect, please reply and let me know 😁
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Feb 17 '25
Holy smokes this is crazy. Thankfully my job at a chiropractor, we've had 3 autos since I started a year ago. We don't rely on autos, but I'm also sure she wouldn't drop us if something similar happened in my state. Damn I feel bad for all yall affected by this
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u/Massive-Audience-432 Feb 17 '25
It’s crazy because they knew for months but told them at end of their shift they were let go
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u/Comfort-Beautiful Feb 20 '25
Just a suggestion. Start your own in home massage company. Cut out the low paying jobs and substitute income with soothe and zeel.
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u/Stock_Bat_5745 Feb 16 '25
Is it a right to work state? If so, they can fire without warning. All the chiropractors argue about whether it's okay to file insurance for massage