Louisiana Labor Laws

This is intended to be a brief outline of steps to be taken and requirements that must be met to adequately and legally start recruiting for the new office which is set to be opening in our neighboring state of Louisiana.

Recruiting Process

A needs assessment would be conducted by a production manager and submitted for approval. Once the needs are determined a job description can be drafted and handed out to recruiters. Recruiters will then send qualified applicants to management for the interviewing process to begin and for final candidates to be selected pending any required drug and skills assessment testing. Testing and job skills assessments will be conducted as per company standards. All employees will be drug screened by a local lab facility regardless of position. Unselected candidates will be notified, and their criteria will be filed for 6 months. It will be the responsibility of the Human Resources Manager to ensure that all background checks are completed and that all legal guidelines for the hiring process are met. Because the jobs that are being created are in the neighboring state of Louisiana this means that all their local employment laws are met along with any federal laws.

Louisiana Labor Laws include the following:

• Minimum Wage Requirements (Louisiana Has None on Record)
• Meal Breaks must be given to employees under the age of 18. There are no rules governing meals or breaks for working adults so federal rule applies. (breaks under 20 minutes are paid, but not required and breaks over 30 minutes do not need to be paid)
• Sick Leave – Not required (unless where required by FMLA guidelines)
• Holiday Leave – Not required but must adhere to any company policy and holiday pay rates are also not required unless it is considered overtime pay. There are required holidays for state offices.
• Vacation Leave – Not required but must adhere to any company policy.
• Jury Duty – Serious consequences for terminating employees for serving jury duty. Must pay at least 1 days wages and cannot charge employee any vacation, sick or personal time for serving.
• Voting – No laws that require employees to leave paid or unpaid to vote.
• Bereavement – Not required by state law, but if offered then company must adhere to their own policy.

Job Criteria

Once the needs assessment has been completed an accurate job posting can be created and requirements can be listed for each position. Because this will be a new location there are a number of roles that will need to be filled. The first role to be filled needs to be that of management, because they need to be involved in the selection and recruitment process of their individual staff. Sometimes, when opening an entirely new location a manager who already works with the company will be relocated either temporarily or permanently depending on company needs. This manager will be responsible for working with local recruiters and the corporate office to ensure that proper background checks and requirements are met in order to extent employment offers to the people whom they interview. Because this new location is an office, there will need to be an office manager, a receptionist, billing accounts payable/receivable, shipping, purchasing, stock room and human resources personnel.

Entry level positions typically do not require any education beyond that of a general education certificate via high school diploma or GED. Some positions like purchasing and accounting positions might require a higher education degree of a bachelor’s degree or 4 + years of relevant experience as an equivalent or a combination of an associate degree and experience. Management, upper-management and HR positions should require a combination of both education and experience to ensure the best candidates are found for the new location. Conclusion There are several things that must be done in order to start recruiting for a new location, the most important things are that local laws are followed, and that safety and training of all employees are set as top priorities. Recruiting is not the responsibility of one single person, but it is the responsibility of a team of people who come together in a collaborative effort to find the best candidates for the positions needed. As the Chief Human Resource Officer, it is my responsibility to ensure that all the best methods are used and that all new hires are properly documented and trained so they are fully prepared for their job duties as assigned to them.