Ahead of a public hearing and vote on proposed changes to regulations for Fairfax County massage therapy businesses, some business owners in the Northern Virginia suburb are worried about a provision that would dictate when they can and can’t lock their doors.
For the first time in decades, the county is rewriting its oversight rules for massage therapy businesses, a step that some have been warning for months could come with consequences.
There are three different versions of the regulations the Fairfax County Supervisors will consider. They’re all largely the same, except for details about controlled entry.
Tuesday’s scheduled public hearing and vote comes years after a March 2020 Board of Supervisors discussion about ways to crack down on illicit massage businesses operating in the county.
“We understand the goal is to go after illicit businesses that maybe are harming the people who work there with human trafficking,” said Casey White, a board certified and licensed massage therapist at White H.A.R.T. Massage in Herndon. “The goal is for them to be able to gain access to these locations very easily.”
Under one version of the proposed code, the decision on whether to lock the door to a business would be left up to the owner, which is the current practice. White called that the preferred option.
A different variation would require doors to be unlocked during all hours the business is open. Operating hours would have to be posted, and staff would be required to be present with the door unlocked during all posted operating hours.
“No matter if we’re with a client, if we stepped out to go get lunch, these are things where the doors would have to remain unlocked,” White said. “Little bit of an undue burden for a small business. Many people, if they don’t have a client, they don’t remain in the office. They go home, they run errands. This would be an issue for a lot staff, a lot of massage therapists.”
And the third proposal requires doors to be unlocked but with exceptions for sole proprietors or single-person businesses. Those establishments would be allowed to have the doors locked. Doors can also remain locked for businesses with windows or doors that allow someone outside to see into the waiting area.
While owners would prefer no change, White said, the option that allows for caveats “is a fair compromise, if we need to make such a compromise.”
Unlocked doors present a safety issue, White said, “because we can’t control who’s walking through our front door. Many of the therapists and massage therapy establishments in Fairfax County are smaller, single-person businesses. The concern is … both the physical safety, but also safety for our items, our products, our offices that somebody can just walk in and steal.”
Some therapists only work by appointment, she said, “so having to have the doors open and being required to be on site at all times that those doors have to be open is just an undue burden and also a safety issue, potentially for clients and therapists alike.”
Separately, there have been several changes to the proposals in recent months. For one, a proposed requirement to make all surfaces non-porous has been scrapped, White said. Instead, facilities have to be maintained and in good repair.
Many of the changes were in response to ideas that White said were “going to be cost prohibitive, and we didn’t see any substantial changes to what it would mean for client safety, sanitation. Those things have been backed up.”
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