Articles Discussing General Topics In Louisiana Labor & Employment Law.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards recently signed into law Act 336 of the 2020 Regular Session, which was filed in the Louisiana State Legislature as House Bill 826. The new act limits the liability to which Louisiana businesses and employers could be exposed due to the ongoing COVID-19 public health

In 2015, Louisiana passed a law authorizing the prescription of marijuana for the treatment of certain qualifying medical conditions, such as glaucoma, cancer, and spastic quadriplegia. In 2018, the statutory list of conditions was amended to include post-traumatic stress disorder, autism, and chronic pain. In the same amendment, the legislature

Both the state of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans have provided additional information for businesses planning to reopen or expand operations once the current stay-at-home orders are lifted or modified. The state of Louisiana has launched a new Open Safely online platform, where businesses can register to receive up-to-the-minute information on what phase of the state’s reopening plan their businesses are considered to be in, what phase the state is in as Louisiana moves through phases of reopening, and what social distancing and sanitation guidelines apply to their specific operation in each phase.

A Louisiana appeals court in New Orleans recently overturned a trial court’s refusal to enforce a non-competition agreement. The appellate court’s decision instructs employers on the need to define the scope of their businesses for an enforceable agreement. Environmental Safety & Health Consulting Services, Inc. v. Fowler, 2019-CA-813 (La. 4 Cir. 3/11/20).

On Sunday, March 22, 2020, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards issued a statewide “Stay at Home” Proclamation that goes into effect at 5:00 p.m., Monday, March 23, 2020. The Proclamation requires all individuals in the State of Louisiana to “stay at home unless performing an essential activity” as defined by the Proclamation. The Proclamation is available here.

In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has issued a Statewide Stay at Home Order limiting the activities of all Louisianans.

Hackers are getting creative. As they gather information about potential targets for identify theft and other cybercrimes, they increasingly target companies’ human resources departments. Employee records often contain troves of sensitive personal information that would be valuable to such criminals – from original employee applications with social security numbers and driver’s license numbers, bank draft forms with bank account information, and W2 forms and other tax documents.

After four years of policy debate, rulemaking, testing, and approval, medical marijuana became available for purchase at nine Louisiana pharmacies yesterday.

Drafting an enforceable (and meaningful) non-compete provision in an employment agreement can be difficult. Many states, like Louisiana, recognize that non-compete provisions in employment agreements raise a serious public policy concern.

The Louisiana Supreme Court has not addressed whether a claim under the Louisiana Uniform Trade Secrets Act (LUTSA) precludes a claim for conversion of confidential information. But the U.S. Fifth Circuit recently did in Brad Services, LLC v. Irex Corporation, No. 17-30660 (October 17, 2018), finding that these conversion claims are not preempted.

And now it’s Louisiana’s turn! After several states recently enacted or strengthened existing data breach notification laws (Colorado, Arizona, South Dakota and Alabama just to name a few…), on May 20th , Louisiana Governor John Edwards signed an amendment to the state’s Database Security Breach Notification Law (Act 382) which will take effect August 1, 2018.

May an employer enforce a contract provision that forbids an employee to leave and take another job that would require him to use or reveal the employer’s confidential information? In Louisiana, maybe not, unless the agreement complies with Louisiana’s non-compete statute, La. Rev. Stat. § 23:921.

In mid-September, the IRS announced income tax relief for individuals who donate through their employers to aid victims of the Louisiana storms that began on August 11, 2016. See IRS Notice 2016-55 (Sept. 16, 2016). To get this special relief — similar to that provided for leave donation aid given after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Hurricane Sandy, and the Ebola outbreak in Africa — an employer must establish a leave-based donation program (a “Leave Donation Program”). Under that program, employees forego their vacation, sick, or personal leave and ask the employer instead to make a cash-equivalent donation to charitable organizations aiding those victims from the Louisiana storms.

On August 14, 2016, President Obama declared a major disaster in the State of Louisiana due to the severe storms and flooding that took place in several State parishes (“Louisiana Storms”). Following the declaration, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued guidance postponing certain tax filings and payment deadlines for taxpayers who reside or work in the disaster area. The relief also provides qualifying individuals with expanded access to their retirement plan assets to alleviate hardships caused by the Louisiana Storms. Below is a summary of the filing extension for the Form 5500 series and administrative changes that employers can make to expedite plan loans and hardship distributions to Louisiana Storm victims.

In IronTiger Logistics, Inc. v. NLRB, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed the NLRB’s policy of requiring employers to timely respond to union requests for “presumptively relevant” information (i.e., information relating to bargaining unit employees), but required the Board to explain why specific requests were presumptively relevant. The court also directed the Board to consider an employer’s defenses to union requests for information, including whether the requests were made for improper purposes.