Paid Sick Leave Requirements in Louisiana

At a glance

What Louisiana actually requires

Louisiana does not require a private employer to provide a general bank of paid sick leave or earned paid leave. The current official Title 23 table of contents lists the state's labor and employment provisions, including several narrow protected absences, but contains no general private-sector paid-sick-leave act. The ordinary rule is therefore practical rather than statutory: check the employer's written policy, employment contract, or collective bargaining agreement for the amount of sick time, permitted uses, notice, documentation, carryover, and separation treatment.

Local governments cannot fill that gap. La. R.S. § 23:642(B) says that no local governmental subdivision may require a private employer to grant a minimum number of vacation or sick-leave days, "whether paid or unpaid." A parish or city therefore cannot create an ordinary paid-sick-leave floor that state law does not provide.

What trips people up

A protected screening day is not paid sick leave. La. R.S. § 23:370 requires one day off for medically necessary genetic testing or preventive cancer screening. But subsection (B) expressly says the employer need not provide paid time off. The employee may substitute accrued vacation or another appropriate paid-leave balance if one exists.

The screening day has its own procedure. The employee must give at least 15 days' notice, reasonably schedule the absence to avoid undue disruption, and confirm that the test or screening occurred if the employer asks. The employee does not have to disclose the result. Section 23:370 also requires a workplace poster for this narrow right.

The final-pay law does not create a sick-leave payout. La. R.S. § 23:631 requires an employer to pay the amount "then due under the terms of employment" after discharge or resignation. That rule can enforce an amount the employer's own policy actually makes payable, but it does not itself make every unused sick day cashable at separation.

Common questions

Can a Louisiana city require paid sick leave?

No. Section 23:642(B) bars local governments from setting a mandatory minimum number of paid or unpaid sick-leave days for private employers.

Does Louisiana require one paid day for cancer screening?

No. Section 23:370 protects one day for medically necessary genetic testing or preventive cancer screening, but it expressly permits the absence to be unpaid. An employee may use accrued vacation or other appropriate paid leave instead.

Can an employer require a doctor's note for ordinary sick time?

Louisiana has no general paid-sick-leave statute limiting documentation for an employer-created sick-time policy, so the policy usually controls. The separate screening law permits confirmation that the test or screening occurred but says the employee need not disclose the result.

Must unused sick leave be paid when employment ends?

Not automatically. Section 23:631 requires payment of amounts due under the terms of employment. Whether unused sick time is due therefore depends on what the employer's policy or contract promises.

Statutes and sources

• La. R.S. Title 23 table of contents. Current official labor-code index; it lists narrow leave provisions and § 23:642 but no general paid-sick-leave act. Louisiana State Legislature (accessed July 23, 2026).
• La. R.S. § 23:642. Bars local governments from requiring private employers to grant a minimum number of paid or unpaid vacation or sick-leave days. Official text (accessed July 23, 2026).
• La. R.S. § 23:370. One-day genetic-testing and cancer-screening absence, notice and confirmation rules, express no-pay provision, paid-leave substitution, and poster. Official text (accessed July 23, 2026).
• La. R.S. § 23:631(A)-(B). Requires timely payment of amounts due under the terms of employment after separation and payment of the undisputed portion. Official text (accessed July 23, 2026).