La. Board of Cosmetology accused of violating right to a jury trial

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (CALF) – A petition against the Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology (LSBC) argues that the regulatory body violated the constitutional rights of cosmetologists who were fined for policy violations.

The Pelican Institute, the Pacific Legal Foundation and the Cao Law Firm, representing four affected beauticians and one manicurist, have jointly petitioned the LSBC and requested a civil jury trial to resolve their allegations.

The petition argued that the board's imposition of fines for regulatory violations and revocation of licenses in internal meetings deprived the affected cosmetologists of their Seventh Amendment right to practice. Instead, they claim, these incidents should have been tried in court, thereby removing them from judicial review.

The petition cites a case in which the owner of a salon was fined $2,000 instead of a non-monetary penalty for allowing two unlicensed people to work as manicurists, despite no customer complaints or allegations of endangering the health or safety of the business's customers.

An excerpt from the petition states that because the committee does not receive government funding, it has incentives to impose fines and avoid non-financial penalties (such as cease-and-desist orders). Instead, it is argued, the committee relies on the funds it receives from imposing fines.

“The statistic that 100% of cases decided by the panel result in fines can probably be explained by the fact that the panel does not receive any state funding and is not included in the state budget.”

The Pelican Institute claims that the fines imposed on estheticians for violations of regulations could potentially put them in financial difficulty and further hinder their ability to seek legal redress. According to the panel's fine guidelines, fines can range from $25 to $300 per week for as long as the violation persists.

You can read the entire petition here Here.

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