New Scope of Practice Guidelines and Other Legal Changes: Are You Up to Speed?

Summer vacation is good for relaxing and taking a bit of a break from the daily grind, but it is also a great time to get up to speed on changing regulations that may impact the services your practice provides and who performs those services.

For example, recently, in New York State (“NYS”), an alert was recently sent out by the Board of Cosmetology regarding the current state of an aesthetician’s scope of practice.  The regulations have severely limited the scope of their practice.  For example, aestheticians are prohibited from performing microneedling, Coolsculpting, Velasmooth, medium chemical peels, and various additional treatments. The NYS Cosmetology Board has also now confirmed that any laser treatment using a low-level laser may not be used by an aesthetician outside of laser hair removal. 

Over the past several years, there has always been “gray” areas that did not specifically define what services an individual practitioner can perform.  The regulatory boards are taking notice and creating long-awaited guidelines. 

Summer is also a time where you should review your human resources policies.  For example, in New York City, legislation now includes a new category of discrimination relating to height or weight in employment. 

Other jurisdictions already have similar laws prohibiting height- and weight-based discrimination, including:

• Michigan
• San Francisco, Calif.
• Santa Cruz, Calif.
• Washington, D.C.
• Madison, Wisc.
• Binghamton, NY

Additionally, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA)  requires covered employers [employers with 15 employees]  to provide “reasonable accommodations” to a worker’s known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless the accommodation will cause the employer an “undue hardship.”  This law went into effect on June 27, 2023. 

Covered employers cannot: 

• Require an employee to accept an accommodation without a discussion about the accommodation between the worker and the employer;
• Deny a job or other employment opportunities to a qualified employee or applicant based on the person's need for a reasonable accommodation;
• Require an employee to take leave if another reasonable accommodation can be provided that would let the employee keep working;
• Retaliate against an individual for reporting or opposing unlawful discrimination under the PWFA or participating in a PWFA proceeding (such as an investigation); or
• Interfere with any individual’s rights under the PWFA.

Allyson Avila, Esq.partner, Gordon & Rees Scully Mansukhani, a 50-state law firm