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fired unjustly?

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therapist

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? IL

i worked as a massage therapist at a well-respected women's only spa in chicago until today when i got a call that i was terminated. last saturday, i had complained against a client who was being inappropriate while i was in session with her in the treatment room. i had sought out the manager to come and deal with it, but she instead sent me back to finish the massage, citing that i had not given her enough information to be able to feel comfortable kicking the client out. after the session, the manager had me talk to a therapist who had worked at the spa since 2000. she also had never had to deal with anything like that and so was of no real help to me. at that point, all i really wanted to do was to leave since i was feeling completely unempowered not to mention unsupported. later that evening, i decided that i was not ready to face the treatment room for work the next day and left a message saying that i won't be coming in. i also spoke to them the next morning and told them that i needed to take a personal day because i was still feeling very shaken. the person i spoke to on the phone was very sympathetic and told me to go ahead and take the time i needed. my next day to work was today, but i got a call from the manager last night on my voicemail telling me that she had taken me out of the schedule. i felt that that probably meant that we had to speak in person, so i went to the spa twice today, both times calling ahead to let them know that i'm coming in to speak to the manager. both times missing her, having just stepped out to run errands. i waited a half hour at the spa the last time out, but could not wait any longer. she finally calls me back two hours later. she tells me that i needed to be more professional and that i should not have called in the next day. her parting words included wishing me that this incident would be the worst thing that ever happens in my career.

do i have a case? i feel ridiculously like this is some sort of weird joke that is really not hitting the right target audience.
 
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eerelations

Senior Member
Unless you can prove that you were fired directly because of something like your race, gender, disability, or religion, etc., then you weren't illegally fired. What exactly was the nature of the client's inappropriate behaviour?
 

Beth3

Senior Member
i had complained against a client who was being inappropriate while i was in session with her in the treatment room.

Please explain what the client did that was inappropriate. That will have an impact on whether or not you were wrongfully terminated.
 

therapist

Junior Member
the client was being vogally sexually suggestive, put her hands in the area around her genitals, and then appeared to have orgasmed on the table.
 

Beth3

Senior Member
Ewwwwwwwwwww. Okay, now that I have that out of my system...:eek:

You may have a claim for sexual harassement and retaliation (for bringing a complaint of sexual harassment to your employer.) If you fully advised your employer what the client was doing, IMHO they never should have sent you back in that room. I suggest you speak with an employment law attorney and get an expert opinion.
 
Therapist,

A couple helpful links on sexual harassment:
http://www.sexualharassmentsupport.org/index.html

http://www.eeoc.gov/types/sexual_harassment.html

You may want to contact the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission at:
1-800-669-4000 or email them at:
[email protected]

and see if they can give you any assistance.

Though it was a client who acted sexually inappropriate, your employer should not have put you in the position where you had to continue to tolerate the behavior.

So:
1. They subjected you to sexually harrassing behavior though they were aware it was occuring.
2. They fired you as the result of it.

YOU handled the incident correctly, by reporting it. They handled it incorrectly.

This could especially be important in that the employer was a spa - and you are a massage therapist.

Actually, if YOU tolerate sexually inappropriate behavior during massgae sessions - you could be setting yourself up for all kinds of accusations and putting your license on the line.

In fact, I wouldn't think it would look real good for the spa that they tolerate sexually inappropriate behavior from their clients and subject their employees to such acts.

There are some pretty distinct guidelines massage facilites should follow if they want to maintain their license and reputation.

You also might want to contact some massage therapy associations and see if they can give you some assistance. They are pretty good at policing the field - as they are working diligently to try to establish massage therapy as a reputable field - and sexual behavior going on in the massage rooms is a BIG no-no!

The spa wouldn't be very "well-respected" if word got out that clients act out sexually during massages and the spa expects employees to allow it. Exposing their employees to sexual harassment = not good for a massage facility which wants to stay reputable.

American Massage Therapy Association:

http://www.amtamassage.org/



Much luck to you,
Free
 
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