OAH hearing on Hierarch Barbering & Cosmetology Academy focuses on jurisdiction and disputed apprentice completion forms

An administrative hearing over a notice to show cause for Hierarch Barbering and Cosmetology Apprentice Academy and owner Jason Robert Lee opened June 2 before an Apprentice Appeal Committee of the State Board of Barbering and Cosmetology (BBC) and an Administrative Law Judge from the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH). The committee heard competing arguments over whether the BBC has authority to enforce rules for apprenticeship completion forms and heard testimony the academy submitted multiple completion forms with inconsistent hours and signatures.

The BBC, represented by Deputy Attorney General Jeff Stone, said the board brought the hearing under California Code of Regulations, title 16, section 9913.1 and Business and Professions Code provisions governing unprofessional conduct. Stone said the enforcement record shows “respondent has committed acts of unprofessional conduct through multiple and ongoing violations of section 924,” and described repeated deficiencies in completion forms, stamped signatures in place of original signatures and inconsistencies in dates and hours across multiple submissions.

The academy’s attorney, Marcus Larson of Grant Genovese & Baratta, made a threshold jurisdictional objection and asked the committee to dismiss the BBC proceeding. Larson argued the Division of Apprenticeship Standards (DAS) within the Department of Industrial Relations has statutory primacy over apprenticeship programs and certificates of completion, citing labor code sections discussed in filings and asserting the BBC lacks a statutory predicate to enforce the DAS-issued completion certificate. Larson told the panel: “We are respectfully disputing jurisdiction of the BBC over this particular apprenticeship program…