Dear all:

One of our colleagues has researched the issue of the 25% referral fee in New York. It is actually considered fee splitting and is ILLEGAL here.  This was when one of the parenting centers proposed this idea and she checked it out.  You can agree to WORK FOR someone else for a particular fee, but they cannot charge a referral fee and take a cut of your fees.

I think the whole practice is unethical.  It is a giant ponzi scheme whereby those who are not doing anything other than collecting information are taking a cut for the person who is doing all the work.  In my more cynical moments it reminds me of the top echelon of the stock marketeers who just seem to be shuffling everyone else's money around. In my better moments, I do remember that those not quite so top tiers of the financial market work very very hard and are not reaping the crazy benefits that those above them garner. 

Yet, I have paid nominal fees for being on certain websites.  I won't pay google because they allow the formula industry to falsely advertise their "lactation specialists).  In this case, I figure I am paying for someone who set up the website. Having been plugging away with the webguys on the New York Lactation Consultant Association website for the last two years, I now know how time intensive the process is and grateful that they undercharge us out of pity.

I would check out what the law says in your state about referral fees. 

Best regards, Susan Burger, MHS, PhD, IBCLC

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