Louisiana: Employee Expense Reimbursement Requirements
The short answer
Louisiana has no general private-sector statute requiring reimbursement of every necessary work expense. A narrow rule instead bars public and private employers from shifting the cost of required fingerprinting, medical examinations, drug tests, and employer-required or employer-available records. Louisiana Works must collect any amount charged in violation, subject to a limited 90-working-day recoupment exception for specified preemployment examinations and tests.
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This is the general rule in Louisiana. Ezel applies current Louisiana law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and coverage | No general business-expense mandate in current Title 23. La. R.S. 23:897 narrowly covers public and private employers and specified employment-screening or record costs |
|---|---|
| Reimbursable expense standard | No statewide necessary, reasonable, work-scope, or direct-consequence standard. Section 23:897 covers fingerprinting, medical examinations, drug tests, and records available to or required by the employer |
| Authorization, direction, and primary benefit | No general direction, authorization, ratification, or primary-benefit test. The narrow rule applies when the employer requires the covered cost as a condition of employment (§ 23:897(A)) |
| Excluded losses and employee fault | No general statutory list for negligence, ordinary risk, theft, wear, commuting, or personal costs. A qualifying employer may recoup certain preemployment exam or test costs when a non-part-time, nonseasonal employee quits before 90 working days or never reports, subject to wage, substantial-change, withholding, and contract conditions (§ 23:897(K), (M)) |
| Request deadline and documentation | No general expense-request deadline, receipt rule, itemization, certification, or missing-document substitute. Section 23:897 states no employee submission procedure; Louisiana Works collects an improperly charged covered amount |
| Employer policy, preapproval, and caps | No general reimbursement-policy, preapproval, specification, or cap framework. The narrow recoupment exception requires a signed contract fully explaining the terms and authorizing withholding, plus compliance with §§ 23:634(B) and 23:897(K) |
| Payment deadline, method, and interest | No general reimbursement deadline, payroll/separate-payment method, advance, stipend, mileage rate, or interest rule. Section 23:897(H) requires collection of the amount improperly charged but states no payment clock |
| Enforcement and remedies | Louisiana Works must collect reimbursement of an unlawful covered charge. Each incident is a separate offense; criminal exposure is up to $100 or 90 days, and an additional civil penalty may reach $500, with agency adjudication, enforcement, and injunctive proceedings (§ 23:897(B)-(H)) |
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Requirements one by one
Louisiana has no general necessary-expense mandate
The current official Title 23 index and targeted searches identify no statute
requiring every private employer to repay all necessary or reasonable business
expenses. Louisiana therefore supplies no universal mileage rate, phone or
home-office percentage, receipt rule, request deadline, preapproval framework,
payment clock, interest rule, or general expense remedy.
That conclusion does not mean every employer-imposed cost may be shifted to an
employee. La. R.S. 23:897 creates a narrow rule for specified screening and
record costs.
Employers generally must bear specified screening and record costs
Section 23:897(A) applies to public and private employers. It bars an employer
from requiring an employee or applicant to pay, passing on, or withholding from
pay the cost of fingerprinting, a medical examination, a drug test, or records
available to the employer or required as a condition of employment.
The section does not turn those categories into a general business-expense
formula. It states no test for mileage, travel, phones, home offices, tools,
uniforms, or employee-purchased supplies.
A limited preemployment-cost exception uses a 90-working-day test
Section 23:897(K) permits an employer to seek reimbursement for a preemployment
medical examination or drug test when the worker never reports or ends the
employment relationship before 90 working days. The employee must earn at
least $1 above the federal minimum wage and cannot be a part-time or seasonal
employee as defined in the workers' compensation law. The exception does not
apply when the employee's departure is attributable to a substantial employer-
made change under the Louisiana Employment Security Law.
For withholding from wages, § 23:897(M) also requires compliance with
§ 23:634(B) and a signed contract that fully explains the reimbursement terms
and authorizes the withholding. These conditions are specific to the listed
preemployment examination and test costs; they are not a general expense-policy
framework.
Louisiana Works collects an unlawful covered charge
Section 23:897(H) directs the secretary to collect from the employer, for
reimbursement to the affected employee or applicant, any amount charged in
violation of subsection A. The statute states no reimbursement request form,
receipt requirement, payment deadline, method, or interest rule for that
collection.
Each incident is a separate offense for civil-penalty purposes. The section
also authorizes a civil penalty up to $500, a criminal fine up to $100 or
imprisonment up to 90 days, agency adjudication, court enforcement of agency
rulings, and an action for injunctive relief.
What trips people up
The 90-working-day provision is an employer recoupment exception, not a deadline
for an employee to submit an ordinary business-expense report. It applies only
to the specified preemployment medical-examination and drug-test costs and only
when all statutory conditions are met.
Workers' compensation medical and mileage benefits, public-employee travel
rules, and payroll-deduction rules outside this narrow exception are separate
subjects and do not create a general private-sector reimbursement mandate here.
Common questions
Must a Louisiana employer reimburse ordinary business mileage?
No general mileage right or rate appears in the current Title 23 provisions
reviewed for this topic. Public travel schedules, tax rules, and workers'
compensation mileage are outside this survey.
Who pays for an employer-required drug test?
Section 23:897(A) generally prevents a public or private employer from shifting
that cost to an employee or applicant. The limited exception in subsections K
and M may permit recoupment of a preemployment drug-test cost when all of its
wage, worker-status, timing, departure, withholding, and signed-contract
conditions are satisfied.
What happens if an employer unlawfully charges a covered cost?
Louisiana Works must collect the charged amount from the employer for
reimbursement to the employee or applicant. Separate civil and criminal
penalties and agency enforcement provisions may also apply.
Statutes and sources
- La. R.S. Title 23. Current official labor and workers' compensation
index reviewed for a general employee-expense scheme. Official index
(accessed July 14, 2026). - La. R.S. 23:897(A). Covered employers and the prohibition on shifting
specified screening and record costs. Official text
(accessed July 14, 2026). - La. R.S. 23:897(B)-(H). Reimbursement collection, separate incidents,
penalties, adjudication, enforcement, and injunctive relief. Official text
(accessed July 14, 2026). - La. R.S. 23:897(K), (M). The limited preemployment exam and drug-test
recoupment and withholding conditions. Official text
(accessed July 14, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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