Employee Expense Reimbursement Requirements in Louisiana
At a glance
| 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)) |
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 August 16, 2026).
- La. R.S. 23:634(B). Signed-contract and wage-floor conditions for the narrow preemployment exam/test withholding route. Official text (accessed August 16, 2026).
- La. R.S. 23:897(A). Covered employers and the prohibition on shifting specified screening and record costs. Official text (accessed August 16, 2026).
- La. R.S. 23:897(B)-(H). Reimbursement collection, separate incidents, penalties, adjudication, enforcement, and injunctive relief. Official text (accessed August 16, 2026).
- La. R.S. 23:897(K), (M). The limited preemployment exam and drug-test recoupment and withholding conditions. Official text (accessed August 16, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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