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A California woman claims that she and other cosmetology students were duped by false job placement rates at the Aveda Institute in Los Angeles.
According to the Aveda class action lawsuit, plaintiff Ashley Mays and others spent thousands to attend the vocational school owned by Nurtur LLC.
However, their hope for a better life after attending the institute was based on false pretenses, including inflated job rates and the quality of the education program, alleges the plaintiff. In addition, the complaint alleges that cosmetology students were treated as an unpaid workforce while Nurtur exploited to service their paying customers.
Nurtur is an Ohio based company that runs Aveda, a beauty company with salons and stores across the nation. A part of Aveda includes its institutes, where students can learn cosmetology, skincare, or massage therapy. According to the complaint, Nurtur’s Aveda Institute Los Angeles is advertised as an elite beauty school where students learn the latest techniques.
“Unfortunately, Nutur failed to live up to expectations because students received little to no instruction,” alleges the Aveda class action lawsuit.
Mays says that she and other cosmetology students in her class were continually disappointed by the instruction offered at the Aveda Institute Los Angeles. She points to one class where her instructor was either absent because of breast augmentation appointments or distracted by online dating websites. Another instructor, says the plaintiff, could not demonstrate any techniques because her arm was in a sling. Instead, students were allegedly forced to learn via YouTube videos or just sat during class time.
The Los Angeles Aveda Institute allegedly functioned as a “diploma mill” for students who received little in the way of real instruction and whose certifications were merely rubber-stamped so they could qualify for the state licensing exam. To add insult to injury, most students paid for attendance through “tax-backed Title IV funds,” points out the cosmetology students’ class action lawsuit. Funds that students are required to pay back, even if they cannot find the jobs advertised by the “supposedly elite beauty school.”
According to the plaintiff, students pay more than $27,000 for Aveda’s cosmetology program and more than $16,000 for its esthetician program.
The complaint contends that, under state and federal law, the Aveda Institute Los Angeles and other post-secondary schools are required to disclose truthful information about post-graduation job placements and education programs to potential students.
The information that cosmetology students at the L.A. Aveda Institute allegedly received was far from the truth, however, leading them to attend and pay more for the education than it was worth.
The class action lawsuit alleges that Nurtur advertises a job placement rate of 60 to 74%; however, the actual rate is more like 38%, with many of those positions being part-time.
According to the Aveda class action lawsuit, Nurtur misled potential students at virtually every opportunity.
Nutur allegedly claims its programs will help students fulfill statutory requirements to obtain their necessary licenses to work in the beauty industry. Additionally, the company promises cutting edge instruction in high tech techniques.
“Nurtur also misleading states that Nurtur is located ‘on the exciting UCLA campus,’ thus suggesting affiliation with UCLA, when in fact the Aveda Institute is a for-profit vocational ‘school’ which, at the time Plaintiff attended, was situated between Jerry’s Famous Deli and Taco Bell,” the class action lawsuit says.
Mays says that she and other students were duped by Nutur’s marketing statements into believing they would receive a top-notch education that would allow them to succeed in the workforce.
However, “the school failed to deliver on even basic statutory requirements,” states the complaint. The plaintiff alleges that Aveda Institute cosmetology students received “little to no technical instruction.” Instead, students spent most of their time on basic operations and routine, menial tasks, claims the class action lawsuit. The plaintiff says that she and other students were required to provide haircuts, facials, hair removal, and other services at no cost, all while customers were paying Nurtur.
“In effect,” states May in her complaint, “Nurtur’s ‘students’ functioned as an unpaid workforce who ran the school and serves Nurtur’s paying customers while receiving no compensation in return.”
The Aveda class action lawsuit seeks to represent Californians who took part in Nurtur’s esthetician or cosmetology programs in the state. The plaintiff is seeking damages, restitution, unpaid wages and overtime, penalties, interest, as well as a court order stopping the institute from its current functioning as a “diploma mill.”
Are you a current or former cosmetology student of the L.A. Aveda Institute? We want to hear about your experience. Tell us in the comment section below!
The lead plaintiff and proposed Class Members are represented by Anthony Orshansky, Alexandria Kachadoorian, and Justin Kachadoorian of Counselone PC.
The Aveda ‘Diploma Mill’ Class Action Lawsuit is Mays v. Nurtur LLC, et al., Case No. 2:20-cv-08335, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
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30 thoughts onCosmetology Students Call Aveda Institute ‘Diploma Mill’ in Class Action Lawsuit
currently a student located in south florida, and also experiencing the same issues. our labor is being exploited and were forced to take on clients that well exceed our education level. rather focusing on our education, they only focus on how well we do during the retail service. instead of offering assistance with complicated foils, i was told I’ll never make any money if i stay that slow. its been an absolute exploitation of every students labor on the floor. and then were told were unprofessional talking about what tips we do or dont make on the floor.
I’m in chapel hill North Carolina and same story for all of us too. We work for free while the school makes money and teaches us nothing. We have had no curriculum.
Does anyone know if this lawsuit is still pending and if they are still accepting plaintiffs?
The fact that we all have similar stories this makes me cringe I hate I even signed up to this school they are so unorganized and don’t know what the heck they are doing they are all over the place and are blaming it on COVID whe in fact this has been going on before COVID as I can see the teachers don’t teach anything but a few are really working I feel like they are so worried about people’s attendance and not actually teaching us anything they put on videos all day so they can do what ever they want I’m so over this school this is sad and I used a different name as well but I do attend the LA campus
I am in Aveda Minneapolis. I cried in the car on the way home today. We have a test tomorrow and we were never taught 80% of the content. I have been asking for a syllabus, topics covered, materials lists, exam dates, rohe t due dates, etc since I started in September. It’s now the end of January. The teachers are disorganized. There is no communication. They literally have no idea what we have learned and not learned. That’s just the beginning. I am thinking about forming a student union. I show up, work hard and ask all the questions. Yet, we spend more time talking about plastic bins and towel usage than curriculum. It makes me I’ll thinking about how much it is costing me to waste my time sitting for 10 hours a day using hot tools on a mannequin head when I am supposed to be gaining “real-life” experience.
Yes it makes me cringe because my daughter was attending aveda in California and reading all these past stories I’m disgusted that they are doing the same thing still .
Wow. As I read this lawsuit and all these replies, all over the country it seems we have a big issue. I went to Aveda in West Chester, OH Sep 2020 -March 2021 and it was a complete and total mess and I have been wondering since the end of my first month I was there where all of my money was going. My education was stunted, I feel I did not receive the education I deserved and paid for. The education that was promised was not there. You are basically paying for the name to be on your resume because it looks good and is known for being the best. I have taken outside courses since graduation and watched countless videos to reteach myself because our education was complete trash. Teachers would leave and students would have to teach the lower classes and help. The one teacher that actually cared about her students and wanted to teach was constantly being belittled by other staff and reprimanded for being truthful and honest with her students. So she ended up quitting and it was heartbreaking. It was also in my area seemed difficult to find a good and steady job because they really did not help. Our kits probably cost at least 100$ for everything we got yet in our tuition we pay more than what everything would actually cost if you bought it yourself. We had independent study almost every day and didnt learn a lot of things they told us we would learn. The things they would teach us, we would go over it really quickly, do it and the educator would leave the room. We were supposed to go over led light therapy and they gave us the box with the machine and basically told us to figure it out and left us alone. They were understaffed and made us do so much for not even getting paid or any compensation or gratuity. I would have clients tip on a card and of course none of that money went to me so, where did all that money go because all those women and sometimes men that would come get a service thought they were tipping me for their day of pampering. Oh, I signed my contract to start in January 2020 and that had my set tuition and then they raised it after i started, even though i signed a contract for what my tuition should have been. They also told us to wear all blacks so i went and bought clothes for school and spent 300$ on that and then they changed us to wearing only scrubs and we weren’t allowed to wear anything else and i was never compensated for that. I would love to be contacted on how to proceed and be involved and help in any way. I am using a pseudonym to the public for writing this btw.
My name will probably be on here anyways but ive spoken my mind to people at the school and nothing wants to be done about it, I just found out about this lawsuit so im coming on here to talk about my horrible experience so far. So I started my cosmetology program at aveda in February 2021, and every since I have been there I have had nothing but problems with instructors and students. Me and other students has been accused of stealing when there’s no way we could have because we weren’t in the same area at the time it happened, so those students have been rude and childish and been bullying me and other students. Well many students are bullying others and people go to the instructors and higher ups at the school and nothing ever gets done. Instructors care more about their looks, dating lifes and gossiping and care less about teaching us. There’s so many things that we haven’t gone over during the course, and they tell us we have to watch videos or we will do that lesson a different day and it never happens. Everyone gets in their little groups and gossips about people and make fun of peoples looks.. instructors see it and do nothing. Instructors pick out there favorite students and pay more attention to them and make sure they get attention and recognition for all they do but other people like me get ignored and don’t get help if we need help during an assignment or hands on work. They have attitudes and call people out in class and embarrass students.. has happened to me many times. Me and my friends have had issues with a couple females in our class and they do nothing but laugh and talk about us, and the instructors know about it and have seen it happens and say that Me and my friend are the problem because we are older and we should just ignore it and worry about ourselves and our education. Like thats some bullshit because when we take tests everyone is loud and gossips, and its super distracting and we end up failing a test or whatever because we can’t concentrate. I’ve had said soooo many things to the boss lady at my school and she has done nothing but blame me for everything, I could keep going on and on about my education there but im sure that its pretty obvious how the education is at aveda. Unless you know a shit ton of people and kiss everyone’s ass at that school, you will get no help from anyone, and i can’t believe that it has come to me making a lawsuit or trying to be a part of one because im just soooo tired of wasting my time and money on shitty education and being bullied my people younger than me and by instructors. If I can be a part of this lawsuit I would love to be.
This is at the corpus christi, TX location. I dont know why anyone would locate this aveda to this part of town its in anyways, its a horrible part of town and it doesn’t look good on the company at all. But I would love for someone to let me know of the attorney or lawyers handling this case.
i attended AVEDA during the time of the teacher getting the boob job. i am using a different name. I just wanted to add that although i did get my license for the program i joined… this school barely taught me anything. Basic facials, there was a back facial my class never learned. Until this day i dont feel confident using a microdermabrasion machine just because i feel like we barely went over it. Not to mention i have no idea how to use galvanic facial machine. the dryer or washer had caught on fire. we did laundry for both programs. the wax room barely had any privacy. sometimes things would be broken and never replaced. honestly this was 90% book work and 10% hands on or actual teaching. as studnets you arent allowed to recieve tips.the school hours were long days. 10am-9pm or 9am-8pm depending the class track you got. if you werent seeing a client youd be doing book work. we basically were workers working for free so we could learn. like many studnets i wonder where all the money goes when they charge us so much tuition. the esti program is 16,000 and the cosmo is 32,000, not to mention the money they also get from paying clients. as i am writing this the school did something odd about something. if there is any updates please let me know
Hi. I attended AVEDA between August 2019-November 2019.
During my time at Aveda there was a lot of discomfort from the very beginning. Late kits, no given all the products. My first two phases of school consisted mostly of my teachers tinder date stories. I never felt like I was getting an adequate amount of information in class. It was 30% learning and 70% gossip. My second two phases were just as worse. Broken equipment, not enough supplies and definitely over worked because they didn’t want to lose money from the salon portion of business. Often had to fake facials because we didn’t have exact products. It was really sad. For 16k we deserved better. There was always something interrupting.
I went to Aveda Los Angeles during this period and I can say first hand i’ve witnessed all of this
They made sure to put a huge emphasis that we would be getting ipad
The esthetician program was a total disaster with broken equipment, barely any esthetician teachers at the time; when i attended there was only 2 then towards then end another teacher joined
My time during class seemed more
like downtime than actually learning anything
I just graduated from Aveda Los Angeles and I had the most awful experience. I completely agree with all of these statements. I didn’t learn anything and there were so many situations where they tried to rip us off/pay for things we didn’t receive or learn how to use, and we were repeatedly were spoken down to. We were left alone in silence all day every day on zoom. None of my classmates feel prepared for the state board. I definitely was interested in filing something against them, so I would love to be involved if possible.
Being a current student at this institution and going through some of these things and so much more is disheartening, frustrating and overwhelming. Needless to say I want to be contacted so I can have a discussion about my concerns in detail because there are many!