Louisiana — Workplace Discrimination

The Louisiana Employment Discrimination Law (LEDL), codified at La. R.S. 23:301 et seq., applies only to employers who employ 20 or more employees for each working day in 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year (La. R.S. 23:302(2)). This is a higher threshold than the 15-employee minimum under federal Title VII. Employers with 15–19 employees fall under Title VII but not the LEDL; employers with fewer than 15 employees are generally not covered by either statute for most protected classes.

Source: La. R.S. 23:301 et seq.

Louisiana R.S. 23:332 prohibits covered employers from intentionally discriminating against individuals on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, military status, or natural, protective, or cultural hairstyle. The explicit protection for "natural, protective, or cultural hairstyle" was added by Acts 2022, No. 529 (commonly called the CROWN Act), effective August 1, 2022. This addition is material for evaluating claims arising before or after that date, as pre-amendment conduct involving hairstyles would not have been covered by state law. The statute applies to all employment decisions, including hiring, discharge, compensation, terms, conditions, privileges of employment, and employee classification or segregation.

Pregnancy discrimination: distinct 25-employee threshold

Pregnancy discrimination is addressed in separate statutory provisions under La. R.S. 23:341–23:344. Critically, the employer coverage threshold for pregnancy discrimination under Louisiana law is different—and higher—than for other protected classes under the LEDL. Specifically, the pregnancy accommodation and anti-discrimination rules in La. R.S. 23:342 apply only to employers with more than 25 employees in Louisiana (La. R.S. 23:341(7)), whereas the general LEDL threshold is 20 employees (La. R.S. 23:302(2)). As a result, employers with 20–24 employees are subject to the general LEDL (including sex discrimination under La. R.S. 23:332) but are not covered by the Louisiana pregnancy discrimination/accommodation statute. Those employers must still comply with applicable federal law (such as Title VII, as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which covers 15+ employee employers; and, for accommodations, the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act for employers with 15+ employees).

Summary of thresholds:

• Sex discrimination (under La. R.S. 23:332): Employers with 20+ employees
• Pregnancy discrimination (under La. R.S. 23:342): Employers with more than 25 employees
• "Natural, protective, or cultural hairstyle" protection effective date: August 1, 2022

Source: La. R.S. 23:332 Source: La. R.S. 23:342 Source: La. R.S. 23:341 Source: Acts 2022, No. 529 (CROWN Act)

Louisiana R.S. 23:303(D) imposes a one-year prescriptive period for any cause of action under the Louisiana Employment Discrimination Law. The period begins to run from the date of the alleged discriminatory act. La. R.S. 23:303(D) provides that this one-year period "shall be suspended during the pendency of any administrative review or investigation of the claim conducted by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or the Louisiana Commission on Human Rights," but the same subsection caps that suspension at six months. Consequently, the outer limit for filing a LEDL claim is 18 months from the discriminatory act (one year plus a maximum six-month suspension), assuming the plaintiff files with the EEOC or LCHR promptly enough to trigger the suspension.

Pre-suit notice requirement under La. R.S. 23:303(C)

Before filing a lawsuit under the LEDL, La. R.S. 23:303(C) requires that a plaintiff who believes he or she has been discriminated against and intends to pursue court action must give the alleged discriminator written notice of this fact at least 30 days before initiating court action. The notice must detail the alleged discrimination. La. R.S. 23:303(C) further provides that both parties "shall make a good faith effort to resolve the dispute prior to initiating court action." Critically, the statute specifies that this pre-suit notice does not interrupt or suspend the one-year prescriptive period. As a result, the plaintiff must send the 30-day notice while still preserving enough time within the one-year (or 18-month) window to file suit if settlement talks fail.

Interaction with federal Title VII deadlines

Because the LEDL's one-year prescriptive period is shorter than Title VII's 300-day deadline for filing an EEOC charge in deferral states like Louisiana, practitioners must calendar both independently. Filing an EEOC charge does not automatically preserve the LEDL claim beyond the 18-month statutory cap. An employee who files with the EEOC near the end of the federal 300-day window and waits for the administrative process to complete risks the LEDL prescriptive period expiring even with the six-month suspension, leaving only the federal Title VII claim viable.

Source: La. R.S. 23:303

The Louisiana Employment Discrimination Law (LEDL), codified at La. R.S. 23:301 et seq., sets out a list of remedies available to prevailing plaintiffs. Under La. R.S. 23:303(A), a court may award actual damages (compensatory damages for lost wages or benefits and other direct losses), as well as "any equitable relief as may be appropriate," which includes hiring, reinstatement, or promotion. The statute expressly provides for recovery of back pay and benefits. Reasonable attorney’s fees and court costs are also available to prevailing plaintiffs.

Frivolous Claims — Fee Shifting La. R.S. 23:303(B) enables a defendant to recover damages, attorney’s fees, and court costs if the court finds that a plaintiff’s suit was frivolous. This means employers can only recover their costs and fees under the statute when the claim is found to lack any legal merit.

No Punitive Damages or Statutory Caps The LEDL does not authorize punitive damages — there is no provision in La. R.S. 23:301 et seq. for such awards. The statute is also silent regarding any cap or ceiling on compensatory damages, back pay, or benefits under state law. Louisiana’s law does not impose the federal-style caps found in Title VII; if both state and federal claims are asserted, any federal cap would only apply to the Title VII remedy, not the LEDL claim.

Front Pay (Court-Recognized but Not Statutory) The statute itself does not mention "front pay" (compensation for future lost earnings when reinstatement is not feasible). However, Louisiana courts have recognized front pay as an equitable remedy in discrimination actions where reinstatement is not possible, though this is a development in case law rather than statutory text. Practitioners seeking front pay should consult relevant court decisions.

Source: La. R.S. 23:303

Louisiana’s Employment Discrimination Law (LEDL), codified at La. R.S. 23:301 et seq., not only defines who is covered but also lays out explicit exclusions—categories of employment relationships that are not subject to the state's anti-discrimination rules. These exclusions, found in La. R.S. 23:302(2), are categorical rather than exception-based: if you fall into one, the LEDL does not apply.

Exclusion categories under La. R.S. 23:302(2):

• Family-member employment: The LEDL does not apply to employment of an individual by their parent, spouse, or child. This is a blanket carve-out for direct family (note: it does not extend to siblings, cousins, or more distant relations).
• Domestic service: Employment in the domestic service of the employer (such as private housekeepers, nannies, or caregivers working within a household) is excluded from coverage.
• Religious and private educational institutions: The statute does not apply to employment by a private educational or religious institution or nonprofit corporation. Furthermore, religious institutions, including schools and universities substantially supported or managed by a particular religion, may employ individuals of a particular religion without triggering the anti-discrimination law. Curriculum-based religious propagation by such institutions is expressly contemplated as outside LEDL coverage.

If an employment relationship falls into one of these statutory exclusions, no claim can be brought under Louisiana’s workplace-discrimination statute, even if an analogous claim might be possible under certain federal laws (such as Title VII, which does not have identical carve-outs).

Source: La. R.S. 23:302(2)