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 statute applies to all employment decisions including hiring, discharge, compensation, terms, conditions, privileges of employment, and employee classification or segregation. Note that other protected classes under the LEDL—including age (La. R.S. 23:312), disability (La. R.S. 23:323), and pregnancy (La. R.S. 23:342)—are covered in separate statutory provisions.

Source: La. R.S. 23:332

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