Labor Law
PBF Scores Victory for Manicurists!
Governor Newsom Signs AB 1514: Extending Legal Independence to Nail Techs After over a year of tireless negotiations and advocacy work, the Professional Beauty Federation saw their sponsored legislation, AB 1514, signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom. The bill extends the sunset date on manicurists being able to operate …
Cracking Down on Booth Rental
BEWARE salon owners and booth renters, alike … regulators are coming after you! This warning is particularly pronounced in California, where we are now seeing the Department of Industrial Affairs and other state and local agencies levying heavy fines (routinely in excess of $20,000!) for misclassifying workers in beauty/barbering establishments. …
Deal or No Deal?
Fighting for California Manicurists As Professional Beauty Federation followers are aware, manicurists in California recently lost their legal right to operate independently as beauty professionals in salons and spas in which they aren’t the establishment owner. While we successfully lobbied in 2019 for our industry’s exemption from the infamous “AB …
California Manicurists May No Longer Be Booth Renters
As of January 1, 2025, California will no longer allow nail salons to have independent booth renters operating in their salons and all manicurists will be classified as employees! This means all nail techs in California will have to be transitioned into W-2 employees, else the establishment owner will face …
Time to Revisit Your Booth Rental Contract
This column isn’t meant to provide legal counsel to any particular booth rental salon, since the operations of every salon is unique to that establishment. The law must apply specifically to the all of the relevant facts on the ground, not just the written contract. Since we cannot answer …
California’s New Booth Rental Law
Happy New Year! Hard to believe it’s 2020. With a new year — and decade — comes new laws and new approaches to making a living in beauty. Since the vast majority of salon establishments utilize booth renters, we wanted to provide a detailed explanation of California’s groundbreaking new independent …
New Laws on Booth Rental and Schools
Last month we discussed several major legal and regulatory changes that have or doubtlessly will touch the lives and business operations of every person earning a living in the world of beauty. These major policy reforms underscore the importance of a state association that can maintain an active presence at …
Change Is Coming!
The only constant about the world of beauty is change. As laws and regulations are reformed, as the market shifts, as consumer preferences and styles alter, you can rest assured that our industry will evolve accordingly. Our livelihood, profit-margins and image depend on this adaptive nimbleness. Public policies and regulatory …
Discouraging Incentive Pay
Here in the Golden State, we subscribe to the “golden rule”, but not the one you’re familiar with about Do Onto Others. No, we believe He Who Has The Gold Rules! And in Sacramento, that means the well-financed trial lawyers and labor unions are mostly in charge. This political reality …
Questioning Booth Rental
Last year, this site dedicated three columns to the dramatic changes threatening Booth Rental in our industry, most notably in the Golden State via a recent State Supreme Court ruling called Dynamex. Other states, including our nearby northern neighbor, Washington, are seeking the end of Booth Rental via legislation, modeling …
