Booth Renters, a Sixteen-Year-Old, and a Records Request
A salon owner has six stylists signing "independent contractor" agreements. Under the agreements, stylists must work posted shifts from 9 to 6 Tuesday through Saturday, charge prices the owner sets, use the salon's color line and tools, attend unpaid Sunday training, and may not work at another salon. They pay $250 per week in rent plus 20% of their retail sales. One stylist's client is 16 and has booked a full bleach-out; her mother phones to give verbal consent but will not come to the salon. The salon's written policy requires in-person guardian consent with identification for any chemical service on a minor. Another client asks for copies of her color formulas and service notes to take to a salon she is moving near. The 16-year-old has also asked that her before-and-after photos be posted on the salon's Instagram.
1. Evaluate the contractor classification as written and explain the practical risks to the salon and to the stylists.
Read the worked answer
The label does not control; the facts do. Classification tests (federal common-law factors, and most state unemployment and workers' compensation tests) look at control and independence. Here, nearly every indicator points toward employment:
- Behavioral control: set shifts, required attendance at unpaid training, no outside work - the salon directs when, where, and how the work is done.
- Financial control: the owner sets prices; the salon supplies color and tools, meaning the stylist has little capital investment and little unreimbursed business expense.
- Relationship: the arrangement is ongoing and integral to the salon's business, not a discrete project.
A fixed weekly rent with a percentage of retail is a hybrid that muddies the picture further - genuine booth renters typically set their own prices, hours, and client policies and supply their own products.
Risks: unpaid employer payroll taxes plus penalties and interest; unemployment and workers' compensation exposure; possible overtime claims; questions about the salon's liability insurance covering the stylists; and board or licensing consequences if state rules require renters to hold their own licenses and display their own signage.
What to advise: get a qualified accountant or employment attorney in the relevant state to review the actual arrangement. Either convert the stylists to employees - with withholding, overtime, and coverage - or genuinely restructure so the renters control their schedules, prices, supplies, and clientele. Changing the contract wording alone does not change the classification.
2. The 16-year-old's mother gives verbal consent but will not come in. Do you perform the bleach-out?
Read the worked answer
No. Do not perform the service today.
Reasoning:
- The salon's written policy requires in-person guardian consent with identification. A phone call cannot verify who is calling, cannot produce a signature, and cannot confirm that the person has authority to consent.
- Bleach-out on a minor is a high-risk service: scalp irritation, breakage, and an unsatisfactory result are all plausible, and the person with legal authority to consent is not present to see the consultation, the strand test, or the price.
- Verbal consent also leaves the salon without a defensible record if the outcome is disputed.
What to do:
- Explain the policy to the client and to the mother on the phone, calmly and without making it about the client's age.
- Offer alternatives: hold the appointment until a guardian can attend, or book a consultation the guardian can attend with the strand test.
- Consider a less aggressive, patch-tested service only if policy permits it and the guardian is present.
Payment: using the mother's card is not consent. If the card is accepted at all, it needs its own authorization; do not treat payment as a substitute for the consent requirement.
Document: the request, the phone call, the policy cited, the refusal, and the alternative offered.
3. How do you respond to the records request, and can the photos of the 16-year-old go on Instagram?
Read the worked answer
Records request. Provide a factual summary of the services performed: dates, formulas and developer volumes, processing times, products, patch and strand test results, and any adverse reactions. That is what the next salon actually needs, and it is the client's own service information. Keep the originals - the salon retains the record for the period its state requires - and give copies, not the only copy. Do not release internal commentary about the client's personality, payment history, or staff notes that are not service information; if a formal medical or legal request arrives, route it to the owner.
Photos: no, not without written consent.
- She is a minor, so consent must come from the guardian, in writing, not verbally and not from the client.
- A release should specify where the images will appear (Instagram, website, print), for how long, and whether her face is shown; before-and-after images of a minor on a public account are the highest-risk use.
- Verbal permission from a 16-year-old is not sufficient authority, and the salon's written photo policy should be applied the same way to every client.
If consent is later given in writing by the guardian, still confirm with the client herself that she is comfortable, avoid geotags or identifying details, and keep the signed release on file. Declining now costs nothing; posting without a release can cost the salon and the client a great deal.