This is the defense strategy of the DC Madam. She alleges that her employees or contractors had violated their contracts if they were providing sexual services.
The case is still in court, so no answer to those specific facts. I doubt it will work, but if it does it will be because she was not on-location to monitor employee behavior. That won't work with a massage parlor.
If you do plan on encouraging these services, I doubt a statement by the employee will help, particularly when the employee is offered a plea agreement on the charge. Similar issue with your customers.
If you are running a legitimate massage only establishment and are worried about a rogue employee, I would think you would be fine as long as you can show that you have taken actions to monitor and enforce the agreement. Requiring employees to report requests for sexual services would probably suffice. You may get a visit from an undercover officer, but unless he hits the rogue employee, he'll see you are legit and not come back very often (if ever).
if i own a massage business is there a way to insulate the business/myself from liability or prosecution if a massage tech is arrested for sexual acts i am planning to have each tech sign a statement that they will not engage in illegal activity
would that be enough to insulate me from liability or prosecution
Most massage businesses require special licensing from the municipality in which they are located. These licenses are usually in the form of conditional use permits (CUPs) which spell out a laundry list of conditions which require compliance in order to operate. You are probably not being insulated from liability by having a tech sign a document because a conviction of that tech will be used as leverage to close your business either due to lack of supervision on your part or some other non-comliance item (closed doors or failure to fill out proper paper work or failure to adequately ID the customer). I don't think that the conviction of one tech is enough to prosecute you for the illegality of her act but a series of convictions could be. Municipalities feel that an effective way to "chill" an MP or a cheap motel for that matter is to require the operator to get photocopies of drivers licenses and, in the case of MPs, fill out info sheets that go way beyond what they need to...this is especially true in the case of Asian operated MPs. Most cities will gladly take the licensing revenue that this generates but they will shut you down instantly if LE does a sting and catches the techs in the act. The fact that you have a document signed by the tech may be helpful in an admin hearing before the Planning Commission to shut you down, but a history of complaints will serve to nullify the effectiveness of that tactic.
No way in hell you can insulate yourself by having techs sign something. If you have a supply of condoms in the supply closet, if all the pretty techs are driving Cameros, if they aren't licensed by a massage school, if you are "adults only" (hey, kids have aches and pains and need massage, if it's legit, why exclude them), if you have a door with a locking system more complex than McDonalds to make it hard for the public to enter, all of these would be signs of "massage" as a euphamism.
This is the defense strategy of the DC Madam. She alleges that her employees or contractors had violated their contracts if they were providing sexual services.
The case is still in court, so no answer to those specific facts. I doubt it will work, but if it does it will be because she was not on-location to monitor employee behavior. That won't work with a massage parlor.
If you do plan on encouraging these services, I doubt a statement by the employee will help, particularly when the employee is offered a plea agreement on the charge. Similar issue with your customers.
If you are running a legitimate massage only establishment and are worried about a rogue employee, I would think you would be fine as long as you can show that you have taken actions to monitor and enforce the agreement. Requiring employees to report requests for sexual services would probably suffice. You may get a visit from an undercover officer, but unless he hits the rogue employee, he'll see you are legit and not come back very often (if ever).
It doesn't hurt to try to insulate yourself. It may not help as much as you'd like, but it can't hurt...
You could also have them sign a little statement/contract that says that if they are caught doing anything illegal on the premeses they will be fired. Most of the good ones are pretty careful anyway.
Security cameras watching the parking lot isn't a terrible idea as long as they're not hooked up to a recorder. That's give you some warning if you're going to receive a handful of "unfriendly guests" suddenly and let the girls know by ringing a bell or flicking the lights or something. I saw one place that had the breaker box right next to the front desk so the clerk could do that.
Bottom line, if they want to boot you out of town, the most you could do is slow down the process or frustrate them till they move on to a new target. Just do your best, retain a decent lawyer and try to fly under their radar...
(less of a lawyer than the rest combined-but a local business owner)
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