METAIRIE, La. – The Latest on licensing eyebrow threaders (all times local):

10:20 a.m.

A lawsuit filed Tuesday says women with decades of experience removing hair using a technique popular in Asia and the Middle East are out of work because of a Louisiana law that requires hundreds of hours of unrelated and unnecessary schooling.

The suit was filed on behalf of a suburban New Orleans threading salon and two former employees. The lawsuit says state inspectors threatened to close the salon because the women are not licensed estheticians.

Salon owner Lata Jagtiani (LAH-tah jah-tee-AH-nee) told a news conference Tuesday that she cannot find anyone who has that license and knows how to thread. That technique plucks hair by pulling twisted thread along the skin.

Former employee Panna Shah says she knows her job and has very good technique, but is now out of work.

The libertarian non-profit law firm filing the suit posted on Facebook, “Don’t thread on me.”

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9:50 a.m.

A libertarian non-profit law firm has taken Louisiana to court over a law requiring 750 hours in beauty school for anyone working as an eyebrow threader.

The lawsuit was filed in state court in Baton Rouge on Tuesday, for a suburban New Orleans salon called Threading Studio and Spa and two former employees. The lawsuit says that although the women have been threading for decades, the studio had to fire them because they are not licensed estheticians.

Threading plucks hair by pulling twisted thread along the skin, rather than tweezing hairs one at a time.

The head of the Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology says that regardless of technique, hair removal is part of cosmetology. He says much of the training has to do with sanitation and other topics needed to run a healthy and clean shop.

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9:30 a.m.

Louisiana’s law requiring eyebrow threaders to take 750 hours in beauty school is raising eyebrows — and a lawsuit.

A libertarian non-profit law firm says it is suing.

Threading plucks hair by pulling twisted thread along the skin, rather than tweezing hairs one at a time.

Louisiana threaders need an esthetician’s license, which requires courses and licensing exams.

The Institute for Justice says that means hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars in irrelevant training. It has scheduled a news conference Tuesday.

Last year, the non-profit won a Texas Supreme Court ruling against a similar law.

In 2010, Louisiana reduced florists’ licensing requirements after a challenge by the same group.

A 2015 Obama administration white paper says state licensing laws nationwide are inconsistent and often out of sync with needed skills.