Louisiana — Leave Laws

Louisiana requires employers to grant employees up to one day of paid leave for service on a state petit or grand jury or central jury pool. The leave must be provided without reduction in wages, sick leave, emergency leave, personal leave, or any other benefit. Employers who violate this requirement must pay the employee full wages for one day of jury duty without reduction in leave benefits, and face fines of $100 to $500 per offense.

Source: La. R.S. 23:965(B)

Louisiana requires employers with more than 25 employees to allow female employees disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions to take unpaid leave for a "reasonable period of time." For an employee disabled by normal pregnancy and childbirth, the reasonable period is up to six weeks. For an employee disabled by pregnancy-related medical conditions, the leave may extend up to four months. Employees may use any accrued annual leave during this period. Employers may require reasonable notice of the leave start date and estimated duration.

Source: La. R.S. 23:341 & La. R.S. 23:342

Louisiana law authorizes but does not require employers to grant employees leave to attend school or day care activities for their dependent children. This is a critical distinction: unlike states such as California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the District of Columbia that mandate school-activities leave, Louisiana's statute is entirely permissive — an employer may grant the leave but faces no penalty for refusing.

Scope of the permissive leave. Under La. R.S. 23:1015.2(A), an employer may grant an employee up to sixteen hours of leave during any twelve-month period to attend, observe, or participate in conferences or classroom activities related to the employee's dependent children for whom the employee is the legal guardian. The leave applies only to activities conducted at the child's school or day care center, and only if those conferences or classroom activities cannot reasonably be scheduled during the employee's non-work hours.

Employer-friendly procedural safeguards. An employee who wishes to request leave under the statute must provide reasonable notice to the employer before taking the leave and must make a reasonable effort to schedule the leave so as not to unduly disrupt the employer's operations. La. R.S. 23:1015.2(A).

Pay status. The leave is unpaid. An employer is not required to pay an employee for any time taken as leave under the statute. However, the statute requires employers who do grant the leave to permit the employee to substitute any accrued vacation time or other appropriate paid leave for the school-activities leave. La. R.S. 23:1015.2(B). In other words, if the employer agrees to the leave, the employee has the right to use accrued PTO or vacation to cover it.

No coverage threshold; no employee-eligibility floor. The statute does not specify a minimum employer size or a minimum employee tenure requirement. Because the leave is permissive, these coverage questions are moot in practice — the employer decides whether to offer the leave at all, and may impose its own eligibility criteria as long as they do not violate other employment laws (e.g., discrimination statutes).

Statutory name. The statute is formally titled the "Louisiana School and Day Care Conference and Activities Leave Act." La. R.S. 23:1015.1.

Federal overlay. Employees who meet the FMLA eligibility criteria (employed by a covered employer for at least twelve months and 1,250 hours, and working at a location with 50+ employees within 75 miles) may be able to take unpaid FMLA leave to attend a child's school activity if it relates to the child's serious health condition or qualifies under the parent-involvement leave provisions in states with broader state FMLA overlays. Louisiana's permissive statute does not create an independent federal entitlement.

Practical takeaway for multi-state employers. Louisiana does not impose a school-activities leave mandate. Employers with operations in both Louisiana and states with mandatory school-leave laws (such as California's 40 hours per year or Massachusetts's 24 hours under the Small Necessities Leave Act) should not assume that Louisiana employees have a statutory entitlement. Handbook policies that promise school-activities leave should specify whether the promise applies in Louisiana or is limited to states where it is legally required.

Source: La. R.S. 23:1015.1 & La. R.S. 23:1015.2

Louisiana requires certain employers to provide paid leave to employees who undergo a medical procedure to donate bone marrow. The rules are found in La. R.S. 40:1263.4, which establishes the following:

Employer coverage and employee eligibility:

• The law applies to employers with 20 or more employees at at least one site within Louisiana.
• Eligible employees are those who normally work 20 or more hours per week for the employer.

Amount and nature of leave:

• Covered employers must grant up to 40 work hours of paid leave per calendar year for an employee to undergo a medical procedure to donate bone marrow.
• The leave must be paid at the employee’s regular rate of pay for the scheduled hours missed.
• The leave may not be counted against any paid leave, vacation, sick leave, or paid time off balance the employee is otherwise entitled to.

Verification allowed:

• The employer may require the employee to provide written physician verification that the employee is a bone marrow donor and that the procedure is medically necessary.
• The verification can also include the expected duration of the leave required for the procedure and recovery.

Additional protections:

• The law prohibits employers from retaliating against an employee for requesting or taking marrow donor leave.
• If an employee uses the leave but is later found not to be a suitable donor, the leave taken is still protected and paid.
• The paid marrow donation leave does not affect an employee’s right to any greater leave benefit provided by law, contract, or policy.

Practical notes:

• Multi-state employers should note this is a relatively rare state-level paid leave mandate and triggers at a 20-employee threshold, not the receipts/coverage triggers of federal FMLA.

Source: La. R.S. 40:1263.4

2026 Update: Public works employees included in first responder leave protections

During the 2026 Regular Session, Louisiana enacted Senate Bill 164 (effective June 2026), expanding job-protected emergency leave to include “public works employees” within the statutory definition of “first responders.” This expansion was codified by amending La. R.S. 23:1017.1 and adopting a statutory definition for "public works employee" at La. R.S. 29:723(21). La. R.S. 29:739(C) was also revised to refer to the new definition.

Key Provisions as Amended:

• Coverage: Any private employer or public employer (other than the State) may not discharge or discipline an employee who is absent to perform volunteer emergency duties as a first responder during a declared emergency. Coverage now expressly includes public works employees who volunteer as part of a recognized emergency response effort.
• Definition of First Responder: Amended La. R.S. 23:1017.1(6), effective June 2026, specifically includes public works employees alongside volunteer firefighters, EMS, auxiliary law enforcement, and certain other defined volunteers.
• Reinstatement and Employee Protections: Absence for eligible emergency volunteer service is treated as a temporary leave of absence. The leave is unpaid unless otherwise provided by policy. Employers must restore the employee to his or her prior position unless restoration would cause substantial and grievous economic injury to the employer, or restoration is impossible for unrelated reasons (see La. R.S. 23:1017.3).
• Proof and Notice: Employers may require proper documentation of service as a first responder or public works emergency volunteer. Usual notice and verification rights remain.

State Employees — Volunteer Firefighters: La. R.S. 23:893 continues to allow state employees who are certified volunteer firefighters up to five workdays of paid leave per declared disaster/emergency.

State Agency Employees — Red Cross Disaster Service: State agency employees may also receive up to 15 workdays of paid leave in a 12-month period for verified American Red Cross disaster response (La. R.S. 42:450.2).

Practical Compliance Note: All employers (except the State, which is not covered by this provision) should update handbooks and policies to include public works volunteers as eligible for job-protected emergency leave during declared disasters, effective June 2026.

Source: La. R.S. 23:1017.1, 2026 SB 164 Amendments, La. R.S. 29:723, La. R.S. 29:739(C), La. R.S. 23:893, La. R.S. 42:450.2

Employee notice requirement for jury duty leave in Louisiana

Louisiana law requires that an employee who is called to serve on a state petit or grand jury, or summoned as a member of a central jury pool, must notify the employer after receipt of a jury duty summons. Under La. R.S. 23:965(A)(1), an employee must give notice "within a reasonable period of time after receipt of a summons and prior to his appearance for jury duty." The law does not specify a numerical deadline (such as days or hours) for giving notice—it simply requires that the employer be informed as soon as is reasonable given the circumstances. This is fact-driven, but best practice is prompt communication after the employee receives the official court summons.

The content of the notice is not prescribed in the statute. At minimum, the employee should provide the employer with the fact of the summons and the relevant appearance date(s). The statute does not require the employee to submit a copy of the summons, but presenting the official summons is standard practice and may help document compliance if there is any dispute.

In summary:

• Notice is required to the employer.
• Timing: "Within a reasonable period of time after receipt of a summons and prior to his appearance for jury duty."
• Content: The statute does not spell out format or specific information, but the essential facts are the receipt of the summons and the scheduled date(s) for jury service.

Employers may not penalize, discharge, or subject to any adverse employment action an employee who provides such notice and takes leave to serve on a state jury for up to one day. See the separate section for rules on pay status and benefit protection during jury service.

Source: La. R.S. 23:965(A)(1)

Employer Written Notice Requirement Louisiana law does not require employers to provide written notice to employees about their rights to pregnancy disability leave under La. R.S. 23:341 and 23:342. The statute is explicit about the employee’s duty to provide reasonable notice to the employer of the leave's start date and expected duration, but is silent regarding any corresponding obligation on the employer to notify employees in writing of their rights under these sections. There is no provision requiring the inclusion of pregnancy disability leave information in handbooks, onboarding packets, or general employment materials.

Workplace Posting Requirement Neither La. R.S. 23:341 nor La. R.S. 23:342 imposes any mandate that Louisiana employers post information about pregnancy disability leave in the workplace. A review of current statutory text as of June 2026 finds no requirement to display a pregnancy rights or pregnancy leave poster at the workplace under these sections. The statutes are likewise silent as to any penalty or consequence for failure to post such information. If the Louisiana Workforce Commission or another agency issues a new regulatory posting requirement in the future, obligations may change, but as of the date of this section, such a mandate does not appear in these statutes or implementing regulations found on official state sites.

Summary for Employers

• No statutory duty to provide written notice to employees regarding pregnancy disability leave rights under La. R.S. 23:341–342.
• No statutory duty to post information about pregnancy disability leave rights in the workplace under these state statutes.
• Possible federal posting requirements (e.g., under Title VII as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act or FMLA) remain separate and should be reviewed in the federal guide.
• Statutory penalties for failure to notify or post are not provided for in the cited Louisiana law.

Source: La. R.S. 23:341, La. R.S. 23:342