LOUISIANA - Workers’ Rights

Definition of agricultural worker under state law:

Under the agricultural laborers’ “right to work” law (discussed further below), “agricultural laborer” means “only those persons employed in the ginning processing cotton seed and compressing of cotton, the irrigation, harvesting, drying and milling of rice, the sowing, tending, reaping or harvesting of crops, livestock, or other agricultural products on farms and plantations or those persons employed in the processing of raw sugar cane into brown sugar [….]” and “does not include persons employed in mills, plants, factories, wholesale or retail sales outlets, or otherwise in the transportation, storage, preparation, processing or sale of such crops, livestock or produce” (except for transportation by the grower from the field to processing area). (La. R.S. § 23:881)

Wages and Overtime

Minimum Wage

Louisiana does not have a state minimum wage law. 

Overtime

Louisiana does not have a state law regarding overtime pay.

State Enforcement Agency

State Enforcement Agency:
Louisiana Workforce Commission

Website: http://www.laworks.net/LaborMarketInfo/LMI_MainMenu.asp 
Relevant Forms: https://www.dol.gov/whd/howtofilecomplaint.htm

Occupational Safety and Health

Workers’ Compensation

• Agricultural workers are covered by the state workers’ compensation law, but with some exceptions. Exempts from coverage workers employed by unincorporated farms who do not have annual net earnings of at least $1,000, where total annual earnings of employers do not total at least $2,500. (La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 23:1035(B)(1))

State Enforcement Agency:
Louisiana Workforce Commission

Website: http://www.laworks.net/WorkersComp/OWC_MainMenu.asp 
Relevant forms: http://www.laworks.net/Downloads/OWC/1008form.pdf

Field Sanitation

• Louisiana does not have a state field sanitation law.

Federal Enforcement Agency:
US DOL, OSHA Louisiana Office

Website: https://www.osha.gov/contactus/bystate/LA/areaoffice

Pesticide Safety

• Louisiana has a state law regulating pesticide safety in agriculture. (La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 3:3201-3389)
• Suspected pesticide poisoning is a reportable illness for health care providers. (La. Stat. Ann. § 3:3208)

State Enforcement Agency:
Department of Agriculture & Forestry: Pesticide Related Complaints

Website: http://www.ldaf.state.la.us/ldaf-programs/pesticide-environmental-programs/pesticides/incidents-and-complaints/

Right to Join Unions and Collective Bargaining in Agriculture

• Louisiana is a “right to work” state. The right to work statute also protects the right of workers to form, join and assist labor organizations without penalty or reprisal. (LA. STAT. ANN. § 23:981).
• Louisiana law protects the right of farmworkers to join and organize labor unions and to collectively bargain. (LA. STAT. ANN. § 23:888)
• Louisiana expressly bars agreements (including collective bargaining agreements) that require union membership as a condition of employment. (LA. STAT. ANN.. §§ 23:883–885)
• Louisiana law creates a civil remedy for any farmworker denied employment as a result of not being a union member. (LA. STAT. ANN. § 23:886)

State Enforcement Agency: 

Louisiana Workforce Commission (There is no agriculture worker specific agency, but agriculture workers can file through the Workforce Commission).

Website: http://www.laworks.net/

State Legal Services Organizations

New Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice
http://www.nowcrj.org

Southern Migrant Legal Services – A Project of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc.
https://www.trla.org/southern-migrant-legal-services-smls

Southern Poverty Law Center- Immigrant Justice Project
http://www.splcenter.org