Contractor Agreements For Beauty Therapists In NZ

Bringing self-employed beauty therapists into your salon can be a smart way to grow without locking yourself into fixed staff costs straight away.

But salon contractor arrangements can get messy if the paperwork is thin, especially when clients, bookings, products, treatment standards and payments all sit inside your salon brand. A clear contractor agreement helps everyone know where they stand from day one.

The main thing to get right is that the arrangement matches what actually happens in practice. If your therapist looks and works like an employee, calling them a contractor in the contract won't be enough.

Do You Need A Contractor Agreement For Beauty Therapists?

Yes, if you're engaging a self-employed beauty therapist in your salon, you should have a written contractor agreement before they start taking clients.

A good agreement does more than say how much the therapist gets paid. It sets out how the salon relationship works day to day, including who owns the client relationship, who controls bookings, what products can be used, and what happens if something goes wrong with a treatment.

Without a written agreement, you may struggle to prove what was agreed. For example, if a therapist leaves and messages your whole client list, it can be much harder to stop them if your contract never dealt with client ownership, confidentiality or client records.

Your agreement should also sit alongside your other beauty salon legal documents, such as:

• client booking terms and cancellation rules
• client consent forms for treatments that carry higher risk
• a privacy notice or privacy policy under the Privacy Act 2020
• health and safety induction materials
• product use and hygiene procedures
• social media and before-and-after photo consent forms

Templates can be a helpful starting point, but salon arrangements are rarely one-size-fits-all. A therapist renting a treatment room three days a week is different from a commission-based lash technician who uses your booking system, your products and your receptionist. Your contract should reflect the real setup.

Is Your Beauty Therapist A Contractor Or An Employee?

It depends on the real working relationship, not just the label in your agreement. If you're unsure, get employee or contractor advice before they start.

Under New Zealand employment law, a person can be an employee even if their contract calls them an independent contractor. If the relationship is later treated as employment, you could face claims for employee entitlements such as minimum wage, holiday pay, sick leave and public holiday entitlements under the Holidays Act 2003.

For context, employees are generally entitled to 4 weeks of annual holidays after 12 months, 10 days of sick leave after meeting the eligibility rules, and public holiday entitlements where the Holidays Act applies. True independent contractors don't receive those employee entitlements, because they're running their own business.

The Contractor Gateway Test

The Employment Relations Amendment Act 2026 introduced a contractor gateway test into the Employment Relations Act 2000. If the arrangement meets all parts of the test, the worker will generally be treated as a contractor for employment status purposes.

This is a technical test, so don't treat the points below as a complete legal checklist on their own. Before relying on the gateway, you need to check that every statutory criterion is met in your actual arrangement.

In simple terms, the gateway focuses on whether:

• there's a written agreement saying the person is an independent contractor
• the therapist had a reasonable chance to get independent advice before signing the agreement
• the person isn't restricted from working for others, including competitors
• the person can choose when they work, or can subcontract the work under a suitable sub-contractor agreement
• if subcontracting is allowed, any limits on who can do the work are only for legally required or work-related qualifications, or criminal record checks
• the business doesn't end the contract just because the person turns down extra tasks or engagements

That subcontracting point is important. If your salon can reject a substitute for broad reasons such as personal preference, brand fit or general discretion, that may not match the gateway wording. Limited vetting for required qualifications, relevant work skills or criminal record checks is different from keeping full control over who performs the work.

If you don't meet the gateway, that doesn't automatically mean the therapist is an employee. It means the usual real nature of the relationship test can still apply.

Say Mia runs a brow and lash salon in Hamilton. She engages Talia as a contractor and pays her 45% of each treatment. Talia must work Tuesday to Saturday, wear the salon uniform, use only salon products, can't work anywhere else, and must accept every booking the receptionist puts in her calendar. Even with a contractor agreement, that setup has employee-like features.

A safer contractor setup would give Talia more genuine business independence, such as choosing her available days, taking her own clients outside the salon, invoicing for her share, holding her own insurance, and having real freedom to decline extra bookings.

What Should A Salon Contractor Agreement Include?

Your salon contractor agreement should cover both the legal status of the relationship and the practical rules that keep the salon running smoothly.

Here is a useful fill-in outline. It isn't a finished legal document, and a lawyer should tailor it before you use it, but it shows the clauses you should be thinking about.

1. Parties: Write the salon's legal name, NZBN if it has one, and the therapist's legal or trading name.
2. Contractor Status: State that the therapist is engaged as an independent contractor and is responsible for their own tax, ACC and business costs.
3. Services: List the treatments they can provide, such as waxing, lashes, brows, facials, nails or massage.
4. Availability And Bookings: Explain how availability is set, who controls the calendar, and whether the therapist can decline appointments.
5. Fees And Payment: Set out commission, room hire, chair hire, fixed fees, invoicing, GST treatment if relevant, and payment timing.
6. Products And Equipment: State who supplies consumables, equipment, tools, PPE and cleaning products.
7. Salon Standards: Cover hygiene, treatment protocols, client care, complaints, dress standards and brand presentation.
8. Client Records And Privacy: Explain who owns and controls client information, and how the therapist can use it.
9. Health And Safety: Include induction, incident reporting, infection control, product safety and safe work procedures.
10. Insurance And Qualifications: Require current qualifications, licences or certificates where relevant, plus suitable insurance.
11. Confidentiality And Intellectual Property: Protect your pricing, client lists, marketing materials, treatment manuals and business systems.
12. Restraints: Include only reasonable non-solicitation or non-compete wording that fits your salon's legitimate interests.
13. Ending The Agreement: Set notice periods, return of property, final payments and what happens to future bookings.

For notice, there isn't one universal number for contractor agreements. Many salons choose a fixed notice period such as 2 or 4 weeks, but what is suitable depends on the relationship, booking cycles and how much disruption ending the arrangement would cause.

Who Owns The Client Relationship And Bookings?

The agreement should say exactly who owns the client relationship, because this is one of the biggest friction points in salon contractor arrangements.

If clients book through your website, your receptionist, your salon social media, your client database or your promotions, it's usually sensible for the agreement to say the salon owns that client relationship and the related client records.

That means the therapist can use client information only to perform services for your salon, and not to copy the database, contact clients after leaving, or move them to another location.

There can be exceptions. If the therapist already has their own established client base before joining your salon, you might agree that those clients remain theirs. If so, define that carefully. For example, you could attach a starting client list or say that only clients who first booked through the therapist's own channels are treated as the therapist's clients.

Privacy And Client Records

The Privacy Act 2020 matters here because client notes can include sensitive personal information, such as treatment history, skin reactions, medication, allergies and contact details.

Your agreement and privacy documents should cover:

• who can access the salon booking system and client notes
• what the therapist can record after each appointment
• whether client details can be downloaded or stored on personal devices
• how before-and-after photos can be taken and used
• what must be returned or deleted when the contract ends

You should also be clear with clients about who is providing the treatment. If the salon advertises the service, collects payment and handles complaints, the client may see the salon as responsible for the service even where a contractor performs the treatment.

The Fair Trading Act 1986 and Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 can also be relevant. Your marketing shouldn't overstate results, and services should be provided with reasonable care and skill.

How Should Payments, Products And Standards Work?

Your agreement should spell out how money flows, who pays for products, and what treatment standards the therapist must follow.

Beauty salons often use one of these models:

• Commission split: The salon collects the client payment and pays the therapist a percentage.
• Room or chair hire: The therapist pays a fixed fee for using a room, station or facilities.
• Service fee: The therapist invoices the salon for agreed services.
• Mixed model: The therapist pays a fixed amount plus a percentage, or different rates apply for different treatments.

Be precise. If a facial costs $120 and the therapist receives 40%, the therapist receives $48 before any agreed deductions. If product costs, payment surcharges, discounts, gift vouchers or refunds reduce the amount, the contract should say whether the split is calculated before or after those amounts.

For example, Bella Beauty runs a $90 lash lift promotion. The contractor agreement says the therapist receives 50% of the client price after approved discounts, with no extra product deduction. If 10 clients book the promotion, the salon receives $900 and the therapist invoices $450. Because the formula is clear, there's less room for an argument at the end of the week.

Product Use And Treatment Standards

Your salon brand is on the line when a client walks out unhappy, even if a contractor performed the treatment. The agreement should say whether the therapist must use salon-approved products, whether they can bring their own products or follow a product supply agreement, and who is responsible if a product causes a reaction.

Include practical rules such as:

• patch testing requirements
• cleaning, sanitising and sterilising tools
• checking expiry dates and batch details
• following manufacturer instructions
• storing chemicals safely
• recording adverse reactions and client complaints

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, your salon will usually have duties as a PCBU, and contractors are also workers for health and safety purposes. Your contract shouldn't pretend health and safety is only the contractor's problem. Build in induction, reporting and safe work procedures so the salon and therapist both know what to do.

Can You Use Restraints And Confidentiality Clauses?

Yes, you can use restraints and confidentiality clauses, but they need to be reasonable and targeted to your salon's legitimate interests.

Confidentiality clauses are usually easier to justify. They can protect your client lists, pricing, supplier details, booking data, treatment manuals, training materials, marketing plans and internal processes.

Restraints need more care. A broad clause that stops a beauty therapist from working anywhere in Auckland for 2 years is likely to be hard to justify. A narrower clause that prevents the therapist from soliciting clients they met through your salon for a limited period may be more realistic.

Common options include:

• Non-solicitation: The therapist can't approach salon clients for their own business after leaving.
• Non-dealing: The therapist can't provide services to certain salon clients for a set period, even if the client approaches them.
• Non-compete: The therapist can't work in a competing business within a defined area for a set period.
• Confidentiality: The therapist can't use or share the salon's confidential information.

The tighter the restriction, the more carefully it needs to be drafted. Courts generally won't enforce a restraint just because you'd prefer not to have competition. You need a genuine business interest to protect, such as client connections or confidential information.

Also think about the contractor status point. If you restrict the therapist from working for competitors, that may make it harder to rely on the contractor gateway test. Sometimes a confidentiality and non-solicitation clause will protect you better than a heavy non-compete.

Key Takeaways

• A written contractor agreement helps protect your salon, but the day-to-day relationship still needs to look like genuine contracting.
• The 2026 contractor gateway test is technical, and all criteria need to be checked before you rely on it.
• The gateway includes written terms, a reasonable chance to get independent advice, flexibility or compliant subcontracting, and freedom to work elsewhere.
• Your agreement should deal clearly with bookings, client ownership, privacy, payments, product use and salon standards.
• Health and safety duties still matter when you work with contractors, especially around hygiene, chemicals, adverse reactions and incident reporting.
• Restraints should be reasonable and targeted. Overly broad non-competes can create enforcement and contractor status issues.

If you'd like help with beauty therapist contractor agreements, client ownership clauses, salon policies or contractor status checks, you can reach us at 0800 002 184 or team@sprintlaw.co.nz for a free, no-obligations chat.