Massage salons working to loosen Sunday rules - Eagle-Tribune

[massage]

BOSTON — A massage therapy company is spending thousands of dollars to convince lawmakers to allow its franchises to open on Sundays, but some see the move as a back-door attempt to exempt workers from getting time-and-a-half pay and other protections.

Massage parlors are prohibited from opening on Sundays under the state's Blue Laws. To operate on those days, parlor owners must get special one-day permits from local police -- 60 days in advance, in some cases -- and many do.

Lawmakers are calling for an end to the Sunday prohibition, ending the paperwork burden. They've filed legislation to add licensed massage parlors to the list of businesses exempted from the ban.

"It's a common-sense correction to the Blue Laws," said state Rep. Ed Coppinger, D-Boston, the bill's sponsor. "Most people work five days a week, and the only time they can go to a salon to get a massage is on Sundays."

Sen. Joan Lovely, D-Salem, tried in July to add a similar proposal to the state budget, but the amendment was rejected.

Still, a trade group that represents massage therapists says the move eliminates workplace protections that prevent parlor owners from forcing employees to come in on Sundays.

It also exempts them from paying time-and-a-half on Sundays, as many retailers in Massachusetts are required to do.

"This would harm massage therapists by denying them the ability to receive proper payment and workplace protections if working on Sundays," said Lisa Parenteau, president of the state chapter of the American Massage Therapists Association, which has more than 12,000 members.

Elements Massage - the Colorado-based company with franchises in Newburyport, Andover, Beverly and Danvers - is pushing for the change.

It has spent $25,000 on lobbying this year with Smith, Costello and Crawford, according to state filings. The Beacon Hill firm is headed by former state Rep. Michael Costello, a Democrat who represented Newburyport for 11 years before stepping down in 2014.

Owners of several Elements Massage franchises on the North Shore and Merrimack Valley didn't respond to requests for comment.

Massage therapists have been regulated by the state since a 2006 law wrested control from cities and towns, which until then enforced a hodgepodge of rules that varied by community.

After several massage salons were fined for opening illegally on Sundays, former Attorney General Martha Coakley ruled the businesses had to comply with the Sunday ban or get permits to operate.

Lovely said the law unnecessarily limits an industry that is growing and creates jobs.

"We've heard about massage businesses that are operating without permits, because they're not aware that they're not exempt," she said. "We're a seven-day-a-week society, and the Blue Laws are antiquated."

Lovely said she wasn't aware of concerns by the trade group that the proposal would prevent therapists from getting time-and-a-half pay, but she suggested lawmakers should revisit the plan to "discuss and address it."

Coppinger, too, said the intent isn't to deprive therapists.

"I would never file anything that would take away pay from employees," he said.

Owners of massage parlors found a well-connected lobbyist in Costello, whose firm has contributed thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to his former colleagues on Beacon Hill since the beginning of the year.

His firm, representing Elements Massage, contributed $200 to Coppinger's campaign account at the beginning of the legislative session, according to the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance. Three years ago, Coppinger contributed $100 toward Costello's reelection.

But parlor owners aren't the only ones spending big bucks to sway lawmakers and state officials.

The therapists association has paid Lynch Associates Inc., a Boston-based public relations and lobbying firm, about $30,000 a year since 2005 to lobby state officials and legislators, according to filings in the Secretary of State's office.

Many of the state's Blue Laws, including prohibitions on Sunday business, evolved from Puritan restrictions on anything except for rest and worship on that day. Rhode Island is the only other state that limits which retail businesses are allowed to open on Sundays.

Over the years, lawmakers have exempted dozens of businesses from the restrictions. The list now includes 55 types of business such as gas stations, beauty salons, cosmetologists, bakeries, fishermen, libraries, ice salesmen and commercial auto schools.

The time-and-a-half pay requirement was added to state law several decades ago, as a compromise between retailers and unions as the state started allowing certain businesses to open on Sundays.

Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, said the Sunday pay requirement hurts Main Street businesses. Their pain will deepen when the state's minimum wage rises to $11 per hour by 2017.

"It's an antiquated law that doesn't reflect the 21st century marketplace," he said. "We need to get rid of it."


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