Cosmetology instructor Nelda Dural echoes Congressman Cao’s lawlessness claims regarding Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology.

Cosmetologist Nelda Dural

On Monday, July 13, 2015, The Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology (LSBC) will deliberate the revocation of the teaching license of Nelda Dural and her school, Iberia School of Cosmetology.  Sound Off Louisiana recently published this feature regarding LSBC Gestapo enforcement tactics against Vietnamese manicurists.  In that piece, former Congressman Joseph Cao, who is plaintiffs’ attorney in a class action lawsuit against the LSBC representing those manicurists, stated:  “The board seems to think it can operate in any manner it wants without regard to the law.”  As evidenced in the 8 1/2 minute highlight of Nelda’s sworn testimony before the LSBC on June 1, 2015, reckless operations appear to be the norm at the LSBC:

Dural sounds off on the LSBC (1:00 – 1:33 is actual complainant
stating that LSBC Executive Director Steve Young
told students “not to go to Iberia School.”)  From 1:30 – 1:33,
 ED Young himself is in video.  Dural got most heated about
why she alone is being singled out for needing two instructors.
As she indicated in her testimony,
 the LSBC approved an exception to the two-instructor statue
 requirement less than 60 days before Dural’s testimony!

Consider the following facts about Jindal’s LSBC appointees:

1.  Jindal’s first Chairman, Michael-John Gaspard, resigned when allegations of male sexual harassment of employees of his spa surfaced.  The nearly $9,000 in contributions to Jindal’s campaign simply wasn’t enough to excuse THAT type of misconduct!

2.  Gaspard’s replacement, Frances Hand, together with Executive Director Young, combine to get the LSBC sued (as well as them personally, though they’ve been released from liability personally) for discrimination and false imprisonment (see link at beginning of this post).  For the record, board attorney Celia Cangelosi was also sued personally, and she remains a personal defendant of the federal litigation to this day.

3.  In early April of 2015, LSBC official Winn Johnson pleaded guilty to selling answers to the LSBC cosmetology licensing exam for $500/pop.

In the above video, testimony is provided both by Dural and a complainant that ED Young informed prospective students not to attend Iberia School of Cosmetology.  If Young felt there was any imminent threat, he should have convened an emergency meeting of the LSBC and let the board take an appropriate action.  Instead, he became the “wild West Sheriff in town” and took matters into his own hands.  In doing so, he acted way beyond his authority.  Moreover, it appears his concerns were very likely unwarranted.  Through his reckless disregard for legal procedure which, as Congressman Cao asserts, appears to be a pattern at the LSBC, Young has opened himself and the LSBC up to a lawsuit by Dural for:  1) restraint of trade, 2) defamation, and 3) discrimination.

When Jindal first assumed office in early 2008, his then-Head of Boards and Commissions, James Quinn, would make one simple request of board or commission appointees.  That request?  “Please don’t embarrass us.”  Who could have envisioned that 7 1/2 years later Jindal himself would be an immense embarrassment to all of the State of Louisiana?  That fact notwithstanding, his LSBC appointees have most assuredly let him down on his one simple request.

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