Louisiana — Wage & Hour

Louisiana has not enacted a state minimum wage law. Employers subject to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act must comply with the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Employers not covered by the FLSA have no statutory minimum wage obligation under Louisiana law.

Source: La. R.S. § 23:642

Louisiana has not enacted a state overtime statute. Title 23 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes (Labor and Workers' Compensation) contains no overtime pay requirement; the state legislature has adopted no law imposing overtime obligations beyond the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

Employers in Louisiana must comply with the FLSA, which requires overtime pay at one and one-half times the regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a workweek for non-exempt employees (29 U.S.C. § 207). Louisiana law imposes no state overlay on the FLSA's exempt/non-exempt classification framework, the federal salary-basis and salary-level thresholds (currently $684 per week for most white-collar exemptions, 29 C.F.R. § 541.600), or the federal duties tests under 29 C.F.R. Part 541.

State government employees

State agencies in Louisiana determine exempt or non-exempt status in accordance with the FLSA and compensate non-exempt employees under FLSA overtime rules. The Louisiana Civil Service rules layer a separate "State Overtime" framework on top of FLSA for hours that do not trigger federal overtime (for instance, hours worked beyond an employee's regular schedule but still within 40 in a workweek, or any hours worked by an FLSA-exempt employee). This state-employee framework is specific to Louisiana's classified civil service and does not apply to private employers.

Source: La. R.S. Title 23 — Labor and Workers' Compensation Source: Louisiana Civil Service HR Handbook, Chapter 21

Louisiana imposes pay frequency requirements on specific industries but permits most employers to establish their own schedules. Employers must disclose pay frequency at hire and notify employees of any subsequent changes.

Employers required to designate paydays

Under La. R.S. § 23:633(A), every covered employer must inform employees at the time of hire what wages they will be paid, the method of payment, and the frequency of payment, along with any subsequent changes. If an employer subject to this statute fails to designate specific paydays, the employer must pay employees on the first and sixteenth days of each month, or as near to those days as practicable.

Industry-specific semi-monthly requirements

La. R.S. § 23:633(B) requires certain industries to pay employees no less than twice per calendar month, with paydays scheduled two weeks apart as nearly as practicable. Payment must include all amounts due for labor or services performed during the payroll period, payable no later than the payday at the conclusion of the next payroll period. This requirement applies to:

• Manufacturing of any kind — employers of ten or more employees
• Boring for oil and mining operations — employers of ten or more employees
• Public service corporations — all employers, regardless of size

Statutory exclusions

The semi-monthly payment requirement under § 23:633(B) does not apply to clerical staff or salesmen employed by manufacturing, oil-boring, or mining employers. (Public service corporations have no such exclusion.) The statute also excludes employees who meet the white-collar exemptions under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act — specifically, those employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, supervisory, or professional capacity, or any employee considered exempt under 29 U.S.C. § 207(a)(1). La. R.S. § 23:633(C).

General employers not subject to industry-specific rules

Louisiana does not impose pay frequency requirements on employers outside the industries listed in § 23:633(B). These employers may pay weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly, or monthly, as long as they inform employees of the schedule at hire and provide advance notice of changes. However, if an employer covered by § 23:633 fails to designate paydays, the first-and-sixteenth default applies.

Timing after payroll-period close

For covered industries, payment must be made "no later than the payday at the conclusion of the next payroll period." La. R.S. § 23:633(B). For example, if a manufacturing employer with ten employees pays on the 1st and 16th, wages earned January 1–15 must be paid no later than February 1 (the payday following the close of the January 16–31 period).

Final-pay timing (termination)

Final wages upon discharge or resignation must be paid on or before the next regular payday, or within fifteen days of separation, whichever occurs first. La. R.S. § 23:631(A)(1)(a). This rule applies to all employers, not just those subject to the industry-specific pay-frequency requirements.

Source: La. R.S. § 23:633 Source: La. R.S. § 23:631

Louisiana imposes one of the most aggressive final-pay penalty regimes in the United States. An employer who fails to pay final wages on time under La. R.S. § 23:631 faces penalty wages, mandatory attorney fees, and the potential for a penalty that far exceeds the underlying unpaid amount.

Penalty wage calculation under La. R.S. § 23:632(A)

Under La. R.S. § 23:632(A), "any employer who fails or refuses to comply with the provisions of R.S. 23:631 shall be liable to the employee either for ninety days wages at the employee's daily rate of pay, or else for full wages from the time the employee's demand for payment is made until the employer shall pay or tender the amount of unpaid wages due to such employee, whichever is the lesser amount of penalty wages."

The employer owes the lesser of:

• Ninety days wages at the employee's daily rate of pay, or
• Full wages from the time the employee's demand for payment is made until the employer pays or tenders the unpaid wages

The statute does not define "daily rate of pay" or specify whether it is calculated using workdays (260), business days (250), or calendar days (365). The penalty is not capped at the amount of unpaid wages. Depending on the employee's daily rate and the number of days elapsed after demand, penalty wages can be ten or twenty times the underlying unpaid amount.

Trigger: employee demand for payment

The running penalty under the second method begins when "the employee's demand for payment is made." La. R.S. § 23:632(A). The statute does not specify whether the demand must be in writing or what form it must take. The penalty does not automatically accrue from the statutory deadline (next regular payday or 15 days, whichever is first under § 23:631); instead, the employee must make a demand, and the penalty runs from that point until payment or until 90 days' worth of daily wages is reached, whichever produces the lesser penalty.

Mandatory attorney fees under La. R.S. § 23:632(C)

La. R.S. § 23:632(C) provides that "reasonable attorney fees shall be allowed the laborer or employee by the court which shall be taxed as costs to be paid by the employer, in the event a well-founded suit for any unpaid wages whatsoever be filed by the laborer or employee after three days shall have elapsed from time of making the first demand following discharge or resignation."

Attorney fees are mandatory if:

• The employee files a "well-founded suit" for unpaid wages (meaning the employee prevails),
• At least three days have elapsed from the time the employee made the first demand following discharge or resignation, and
• The suit is for "any unpaid wages whatsoever" (not limited to final-pay claims—applies to any wage dispute).

The fees are taxed as costs to the employer.

Good-faith exception under La. R.S. § 23:632(B)

La. R.S. § 23:632(B) creates a narrow exception: "When the court finds that an employer's dispute over the amount of wages due was in good faith, but the employer is subsequently found by the court to owe the amount in dispute, the employer shall be liable only for the amount of wages in dispute plus judicial interest incurred from the date that the suit is filed."

Under this exception, the employer avoids penalty wages entirely and owes only the principal amount plus judicial interest from the suit filing date. However, if "the court determines that the employer's failure or refusal to pay the amount of wages owed was not in good faith, then the employer shall be subject to the penalty provided for in Subsection A of this Section." La. R.S. § 23:632(B).

The good-faith exception applies only when there is a genuine and reasonable dispute over the amount of wages owed—for example, whether a commission was earned under the terms of a written policy, or the correct calculation of a bonus. It does not apply when the employer simply failed to pay undisputed wages on time due to administrative delay or oversight.

Practical exposure

The statutory structure creates outsized exposure. If an employee earning $50,000 annually is owed $1,000 in final wages, the maximum penalty under the 90-day method could approach or exceed $12,000 (assuming a daily rate calculated on a 365-day basis at approximately $137/day), plus mandatory attorney fees if suit is filed after the employee's demand. The employer's total liability can be fifteen to twenty times the underlying unpaid amount, depending on the daily rate, the timing of demand, and the duration before payment.

Source: La. R.S. § 23:631 Source: La. R.S. § 23:632

Louisiana strictly regulates wage deductions through multiple statutes in Title 23, prohibiting most employer-initiated deductions from wages while carving out narrow exceptions for employee damage to property, pre-employment medical and drug-testing costs under specific conditions, and employee-authorized voluntary deductions.

General prohibition on fines — La. R.S. § 23:635

Louisiana law prohibits employers from assessing fines against employees or deducting any sum as fines from wages. La. R.S. § 23:635. This prohibition applies to any person "acting either for himself or as agent or otherwise."

Three statutory exceptions permit fines limited to actual damages:

• Willful or negligent damage to goods or works — employers may deduct fines when employees willfully or negligently damage goods or works, but the fines shall not exceed the actual damage done.
• Willful or negligent damage to employer property — employers may deduct fines when employees willfully or negligently damage or break the employer's property, but the fines shall not exceed the actual damage done.
• Conviction or guilty plea for theft of employer funds — employers may deduct fines when the employee is convicted or has pled guilty to the crime of theft of employer funds, but the fines shall not exceed the actual damage done.

All three exceptions contain the same ceiling: "the fines shall not exceed the actual damage done." La. R.S. § 23:635. Fines for tardiness, dress-code violations, customer complaints, or performance shortfalls are categorically prohibited — the statute permits fines only where the employee has caused actual, measurable damage to the employer's goods or property, and only when the damage was willful or negligent.

Acts 2001, No. 768 enacted the current version of § 23:635.

Prohibition on wage-forfeiture contracts — La. R.S. § 23:634(A)

Louisiana prohibits employers from requiring employees to sign contracts forfeiting wages if discharged or if the employee resigns before the contract is completed. La. R.S. § 23:634(A). Employees are entitled to wages actually earned up to the time of discharge or resignation, regardless of any contract provision purporting to forfeit those wages.

Pre-employment medical exam and drug test costs — La. R.S. § 23:897 and § 23:634(B)

Employers are generally prohibited from requiring employees or applicants to pay for, or from withholding from wages, the cost of fingerprinting, medical examinations, drug tests, or the cost of furnishing any records required as a condition of employment. La. R.S. § 23:897(A). Violations carry criminal penalties (fine up to $100 or imprisonment up to 90 days, or both) and civil penalties up to $500 per incident. La. R.S. § 23:897(B), (C), (D).

Louisiana provides two narrow exceptions permitting employers to recover pre-employment medical exam and drug test costs under specific conditions:

Exception 1: Right of reimbursement for early termination (La. R.S. § 23:897(K))

An employer has a right of reimbursement from an employee or applicant who becomes an employee for the costs of the employee's pre-employment medical examination or drug test if:

• The employee is compensated at a rate equivalent to not less than one dollar above the existing federal minimum wage (as of June 2026, the federal minimum is $7.25/hour, so the employee must earn at least $8.25/hour),
• The employee is not a part-time or seasonal employee as defined in La. R.S. § 23:1021, and
• The employee terminates the employment relationship sooner than ninety working days after his first day of work or never reports to work, unless the termination is attributable to a substantial change made to the employment by the employer as applied in the Louisiana Employment Security Law.

Exception 2: Wage withholding for early resignation (La. R.S. § 23:897(M) and § 23:634(B))

An employer may withhold from the employee's wages the costs of the pre-employment medical examination, drug test, or both, if:

• All of the conditions in La. R.S. § 23:897(K) are met (wage threshold, not part-time/seasonal, resignation within 90 working days),
• All of the conditions in La. R.S. § 23:634(B) are met (same wage threshold, not part-time/seasonal, resignation within 90 working days from first day of work), and
• The employee has signed a contract which fully explains the terms and conditions under which the employer's right of reimbursement is established and authorizing the employer to withhold the cost of such pre-employment medical examination, drug test, or both, if the employee resigns within ninety working days. La. R.S. § 23:897(M).

The two statutes overlap substantially. La. R.S. § 23:897(K) creates a right of reimbursement (employer may seek repayment but must do so outside payroll); La. R.S. § 23:897(M) creates a right to withhold from wages if the employee has signed a contract authorizing the withholding. Both are conditioned on the employee earning at least $1 above the federal minimum wage, the employee not being part-time or seasonal, and the employee resigning within 90 working days.

Voluntary employee-authorized deductions

Louisiana law does not prohibit deductions that employees voluntarily authorize in writing — for example, health insurance premiums, retirement contributions, union dues (for certain public employees under specific statutes), charitable contributions, or wage-assignment orders. However, if the employee does not authorize a deduction, and the deduction does not fall within one of the three narrow exceptions in § 23:635 (damage to goods/property, theft conviction) or the pre-employment cost exceptions in § 23:897(K)/(M) and § 23:634(B), the deduction is unlawful.

Mandatory deductions required by law or court order

Louisiana wage-payment statutes do not prohibit deductions required by federal or state law (payroll taxes, Social Security, Medicare) or by court order (child support, wage garnishments). Such deductions are mandatory and operate outside the § 23:635 and § 23:897 framework.

Source: La. R.S. § 23:635 Source: La. R.S. § 23:634 Source: La. R.S. § 23:897

Louisiana does not require employers to provide employees with itemized wage statements (commonly called pay stubs or earnings statements) at the time of payment. The state's wage-payment statutes in Title 23 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes impose no obligation to furnish employees with a written, electronic, or printed record showing wages paid, hours worked, deductions taken, or other pay-period details.

Statutory silence — no wage-statement mandate

La. R.S. § 23:633, the principal state statute governing pay frequency and wage notification, requires employers to inform employees at the time of hire what wages they will be paid, the method in which they will be paid, and the frequency of payment, along with any subsequent changes to those terms. The statute also requires certain industry employers to pay employees at least twice per calendar month and mandates a workplace notice explaining employee wage rights. However, § 23:633 contains no provision requiring employers to give employees an itemized statement showing the components of a paycheck—gross wages, deductions, net pay, hours worked, or pay rates—at the time wages are paid or at any other time.

No other provision in Louisiana's labor code (Title 23) creates a wage-statement requirement. La. R.S. § 23:631 governs final-pay timing. La. R.S. § 23:632 creates penalty wages for late payment. La. R.S. § 23:634 prohibits wage-forfeiture contracts. La. R.S. § 23:635 restricts fines and deductions. La. R.S. § 23:897 addresses pre-employment exam and drug-test cost reimbursement. None of these statutes require the employer to provide a written or electronic pay stub showing wage and deduction details.

Record-keeping requirement under La. R.S. § 23:636

Although Louisiana does not require employers to furnish wage statements to employees, the state does impose a record-keeping requirement. La. R.S. § 23:636 mandates that every employer subject to La. R.S. § 23:633 (which includes most employers in the state) must keep for at least one year a true and accurate record of:

• The name, address, and occupation of each person employed,
• The daily and weekly hours worked by the employee, and
• The wages paid to each employee.

These records must be available for inspection by the Louisiana Workforce Commission but are not required to be distributed to the employee. Employers may retain the records in any form—paper, electronic, or other medium—so long as they are true and accurate for the statutory one-year period.

Federal FLSA record-keeping rules still apply

Employers subject to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq.) must comply with the FLSA's record-keeping requirements under 29 C.F.R. § 516, which require employers to keep payroll records showing hours worked, wages paid, and deductions for each employee for at least three years. The FLSA does not require employers to provide pay stubs to employees, but if an employer does furnish a pay stub, that stub may be used to satisfy part of the FLSA's record-keeping obligation if it contains the information required by § 516.

Because Louisiana has no state minimum wage or overtime law, employers in Louisiana apply the federal FLSA rules directly. The Louisiana record-keeping rule under § 23:636 operates in parallel, imposing a shorter (one-year) retention period than the FLSA's three-year rule.

Practical considerations

Although Louisiana law does not require employers to provide pay stubs, many employers voluntarily furnish them—by paper, electronic delivery, or online portal access—as a matter of payroll administration, employee relations, or to comply with multi-state policies in companies with operations outside Louisiana. Employers who use direct deposit or payroll cards may provide pay stubs to help employees understand their net pay and deductions, but Louisiana law does not mandate that practice.

Employers operating in multiple states should be aware that most other states do require itemized wage statements, either on paper, electronically, or via secure online access. Employers with Louisiana employees and employees in states such as California, New York, Texas, or Illinois will need to comply with the wage-statement rules in those other jurisdictions for employees working in or paid from those states.

Source: La. R.S. § 23:633 Source: La. R.S. § 23:636