Articles Discussing General Topics In Louisiana Labor & Employment Law.

Labor and employment partners Jennifer Kogos and Maggie Spell, Alex Glaser, a partner in the Tax Practice Group, and Jacob Pritt, an associate in the Labor & Employment Practice Group recently authored the section, “US Regional Employment 2021: Louisiana” in the USA Chambers and Partners Global Practice Guide. 

Weeks after Hurricane Ida tore through the region, damaging thousands of businesses and flattening the power grid, the power was mostly restored in New Orleans by September 10, but countless businesses throughout southeast Louisiana are still without power.

On August 27, 2021, with Hurricane Ida’s impact on South Louisiana imminent, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) issued a statewide Declaration of Emergency. The Declaration provided guidance on a number of expected impacts of the storm, including “upset” of Louisiana Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits by wastewater treatment

On August 12, 2021, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell and the City of New Orleans Health Department announced updated Guidelines for COVID-19 Reopening, which require individuals to provide proof of “having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine” or “evidence of a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken no

On August 1, 2021, Louisiana stopped paying the $300 weekly supplemental unemployment benefit payment provided by federal law. Prior to the elimination of the benefit, six Louisiana residents sued the Louisiana Workforce Commission and Governor John Bel Edwards to compel the restoration of the $300 weekly benefit payment.

On June 9, 2021, the Louisiana State Legislature passed House Bill (HB) No. 707, a measure that prohibits discrimination in employment based on criminal history records and that provides criteria for employers making hiring decisions in conjunction with criminal history records. This development will likely be good news for formerly

Starting this month, Louisiana employers with 25 or more employees are required to accommodate pregnant employees and applicants in ways not required under federal law or previous state law.

On August 2, 2021, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards issued Proclamation Number 137 JBE 2021, reinstating a statewide mask mandate that requires all individuals, regardless of vaccination status, to wear masks “when indoors, in any place outside of a private residence.”

Louisiana’s nondiscrimination law protecting “pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions” in employment (La. R.S. 23:341–42) was recently amended primarily by including an express reasonable accommodation requirement and adding a definition section providing reasonable accommodation examples, La. R.S. 23:341.1. The pregnancy nondiscrimination statutes are part of the larger body of laws

Beginning August 1, 2021, Louisiana employers will be required to provide reasonable accommodations to employees who need such accommodations due to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless it would pose an undue hardship on the employer. Read more about these developments from our Louisiana colleagues.

Louisiana has become the first state with a Democratic governor to pass a law eliminating the $300 per week supplemental unemployment benefit created by the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA). Under the new measure, Act No. 276, which Governor John Bel Edwards signed into law on June

The Louisiana Legislature has now sent to conference committee proposed legislation (SB 157) that would exempt the wages of certain nonresident employees from Louisiana individual income taxation, and their employers from withholding and reporting requirements, if the employees only worked in Louisiana for fewer than 25 days in a calendar year.

Recently, the Louisiana Court of Appeal, First Circuit, in Thompson v. Cenac Towing Co., L.L.C., analyzed a trial court’s grant of summary judgment in a company’s favor after a noose-like rope was found hanging in a maritime workplace and held that the trial court had improperly weighed the credibility of

Chris Mann, a partner in the Labor & Employment Practice Group, authored the article “The Basics of Workers’ Compensation Fraud in Louisiana” published in the Louisiana Associated General Contractor’s News to Build On newsletter. Chris highlights legal and practical impacts of workers’ compensation fraud, statutory and regulatory systems in place to address fraud, and proactive steps employers can take to avoid these scenarios.

The recent decided case of Duplessis Buick-GMC Truck, Inc. v. Chauncey offers Louisiana employers a powerful cause of action against highly trusted former employees for breach of fiduciary duty—one that is akin to an action to enforce noncompete agreements or trade secret laws but without statutory constraints.