New hiring laws in Louisiana for 2027: the intern non-compete ban, contractor portable benefits, health care background checks and what employers do next

As of November 2026, Louisiana's 2026 regular session made several targeted hiring changes, most of them effective August 1, 2026: non-competes are void for interns and apprentices (Act 150), independent contractors may receive voluntary portable benefits that cannot be used to classify them as employees (Act 299), employees who donate an organ or bone marrow get protected leave (Act 506), and state civil service job announcements must show the salary or salary range (Act 534). Health care employers have rewritten background check rules for nonlicensed workers from June 9 and October 1, 2026 (Act 802), and a 2025 law pays a tax credit for hiring apprentices, interns and youth workers from January 1, 2026, with the first applications due by February 28, 2027.

Louisiana still has no private-employer pay range law, salary history ban, state minimum wage, AI hiring law or E-Verify requirement for every employer. Each item below links to its bill page on the Legislature's site, where the enrolled act and the résumé digest sit, with the effective date from the act or the Legislature's table of effective dates. The standing checklist (Louisiana Works registration, the L-4, posters, new-hire reporting) is in our Louisiana hiring hub; this page is the dated list of what is new.

Which Louisiana hiring laws changed in 2026, and what changes in 2027?

Louisiana acts and the federal rules that apply to Louisiana employers, sorted by date.

What changed for interns, apprentices and young workers?

Act 150 adds R.S. 23:921(P): from August 1, 2026, non-compete contracts, agreements or provisions are prohibited for "unpaid or paid interns and apprentices," and none may restrict an intern or apprentice from pursuing employment, educational or professional opportunities after the program ends. Confidentiality, intellectual property and data protection agreements still bind them. Remove non-compete clauses from internship and apprenticeship offer templates; the full Louisiana test for other employees is in Louisiana non-compete law.

Hiring the same groups now earns a credit. Act 376 of 2025 created the Work-Based Learning Tax Credit: for each eligible apprentice (a registered apprenticeship or an accredited NCCER training program of at least four levels and 500 hours), intern in an approved work-based learning program, or youth worker aged 15 to 23 who was unemployed and meets one of the listed criteria, employed at least 100 hours, the employer may qualify for $2.50 per hour or $2,500, whichever is less, per taxable period. Credits can be earned from January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2031, the statewide cap for 2026 is $1 million, and from January 1, 2027 employers apply on a Department of Revenue form between January 1 and February 28 of the following year; the department may prorate when requests on a single day exceed what is left. Keep hour records for each eligible worker from day one.

Two smaller changes affect the paperwork. Act 61, effective May 11, 2026, ends school-issued work certificates for minors: Louisiana Works furnishes the form on its website or at field offices, the minor and a parent sign it, and the certificate is valid once the minor submits it to the employer with proof of age that the employer verifies; Louisiana Works will collect the forms from employers. Act 490 defines a "Louisiana Youth Apprentice" as an apprentice no older than 24 with a written registered apprenticeship agreement for at least 375 hours of reasonably continuous employment and related education leading to a diploma or credential.

What must health care employers change in background checks?

Act 802 rewrites the checks on nonlicensed health care workers in R.S. 40:1203.1 to 1203.3 in two steps. From June 9, 2026, the term "nonlicensed person" covers people who provide nursing care or health-related services to an employer's residents or patients and excludes staff such as cafeteria, maintenance, janitorial and grounds workers. A hospital may now use a consumer reporting agency accredited by the Professional Background Screening Association instead of the State Police route, if the check searches criminal court records in each parish or county where the applicant lived in the last three years, federal court records and the national sex offender registry, and the report complies with the FCRA. Temporary employment pending the result is still allowed with the 72-hour report, and a pending arrest, an unresolved record match, a traffic or parking matter or another nonviolent misdemeanor not on the list does not by itself bar temporary or conditional employment. Employers must keep documentation showing they complied.

From October 1, 2026, a single list of disqualifying offenses applies to every employer of nonlicensed health care workers (the separate list for providers serving people under 21 is repealed), substantially similar federal and out-of-state convictions count, and licensed ambulance personnel are no longer covered by the hiring prohibition. Act 659 adds that an employer that receives a criminal history check may not send a copy to another employer seeking a referral, and Act 483 lets the state bureau give expunged records to a public qualified entity that shows strong evidence it needs them to protect the children, elderly people or people with disabilities it serves, and bars private qualified entities from receiving them. The rest of Louisiana's screening rules are in Louisiana background check laws.

Licensing also moved. Act 879 creates a restricted rural physician license for international medical graduates, with examination, ECFMG certification, clinical experience, background check and English proficiency requirements, practice limited to designated rural or underserved areas or approved facilities, and at least two years under a supervising physician; a full license can follow after five years of continuous rural practice. Act 452 gives new graduates of Louisiana massage therapy schools a three-month, non-renewable provisional license for work at a registered business that employs a licensed massage therapist, with notice to clients.

How do the new independent contractor rules work?

Act 299, the Independent Contractor Voluntary Portable Benefits Act (R.S. 23:1821 to 1823), lets any person or entity, including an app-based platform, contribute to portable benefit accounts for independent contractors. Contributions may come from the hiring party's own funds or from a percentage of the contractor's pay only if the withholding is agreed in writing in a clear, prominently displayed term, is voluntary with an opt-in, and can be stopped at any time. The act says contributions "shall not be used as a criterion for determining an individual's employment classification," and courts may not treat them as an element of an employment relationship under the workers' compensation and employment security laws. Separately, Act 133 extends the workers' compensation definition of an independent contractor to the employees of an independent contractor who are substantially engaged in manual labor. Neither act changes the federal tests; the risks for agencies are in worker misclassification for staffing agencies.

What changed for public employers?

• Pay in state job ads. Act 534 (R.S. 42:375.1) requires the Department of State Civil Service to list the salary or salary range in each vacant classified job announcement and to tell applicants when they are rejected or the vacancy is filled. It does not reach private employers; see Louisiana pay transparency.
• Pronoun and name policies. Act 579 (R.S. 23:333) bars state and political subdivision employers from requiring employees to state pronouns inconsistent with their sex, to use a name other than their legal name in official records, or, as a condition of employment, to address others by a name other than their legal name or by pronouns inconsistent with their sex, and from taking adverse action for declining.
• School employees. Act 744, effective June 2, 2026, requires public school boards, including charter schools, to give eligible employees with 12 months of service up to six weeks of paid parental leave at full base pay, used within 12 weeks of a birth, pregnancy loss, adoption or foster placement. Act 233, effective May 15, 2026, lowers the minimum age for the associate educator program from 25 to 21.
• Veterans' points. Act 160 gives the five extra points on entrance-level fire and police civil service lists to anyone honorably discharged after 180 days or more of service, not only to wartime veterans.
• DCFS. Act 803 requires criminal background checks and central registry searches on all current and prospective employees of the Department of Children and Family Services.

What leave must Louisiana private employers give organ donors?

Under Act 506 (R.S. 40:1264.2), from August 1, 2026 a private employer with one or more employees must grant an unpaid leave of absence to an employee who asks in writing to serve as a human organ or bone marrow donor, for the time requested or 30 consecutive calendar days, and may not discharge, demote, suspend, threaten, harass or discriminate against the employee for it. An employer may give more. Add the rule to the handbook and to the leave information you hand new hires. Separately, Act 817, effective June 8, 2026, lets life and disability insurers sell paid family leave insurance; it is a benefit an employer may buy, not a mandate.

Which federal changes apply to Louisiana employers in 2026 and 2027?

• Form I-9. USCIS lists the 01/20/25 edition as current and allows the 08/01/23 edition until its 05/31/2027 expiration date; electronic systems had to move to the 05/31/2027 version by July 31, 2026.
• Work permits. The DHS final rule of October 14, 2026 finalizes the October 30, 2025 interim rule ending automatic extensions for EAD renewals in certain categories; see the EAD automatic extension guide.
• E-Verify. Many Louisiana employers use E-Verify, either as their safe harbor under R.S. 23:995 or because public contracts require it (see E-Verify requirements in Louisiana). Since August 11, 2026 the Status Change Report also flags cases tied to invalidated A12, C08, C09 and C19 EADs, and employers have until January 8, 2027 to download the Historical Records Report for cases last updated on or before December 31, 2016.
• Federal contractors. The Labor Department's final rule rescinded the Executive Order 11246 regulations effective October 26, 2026, after Executive Order 14173 revoked the order; what remains for contractors is in job posting requirements for federal contractors.
• Criminal history. The EEOC rescinded its 2012 arrest and conviction records guidance on October 28, 2026 (EEOC release). Louisiana's own rule is untouched: R.S. 23:291.2 still bars considering arrests that did not lead to a conviction and requires an individual assessment of convictions, which the Green factors from the 1975 Eighth Circuit case (the nature and gravity of the offense, the time since it and the nature of the job) help document.

What did not change in Louisiana?

• No private pay range or salary history law; New Orleans' city rules are on the Louisiana salary history page.
• Criminal history timing for private employers is unchanged; public employer rules are in ban the box in Louisiana.
• Drug testing still follows R.S. 49:1001 and the certified-lab rules in Louisiana drug testing laws.
• Recording interviews still needs only one party's consent; see Louisiana recording consent for interviews.
• No AI hiring law. The 2026 acts on artificial intelligence deal with images, election communications and patient visits, not hiring decisions.

What should Louisiana employers do before January 1, 2027?

1. Strip non-competes from intern and apprentice paperwork, keeping confidentiality and IP terms.
2. Track hours for apprentices, interns and youth workers hired in 2026 and prepare the Work-Based Learning credit application for January 1 to February 28, 2027.
3. Update health care screening procedures for the October 1, 2026 offense list, keep compliance records, and stop forwarding check results to other employers.
4. Add organ and bone marrow donor leave to the handbook and leave policies.
5. Put contractor benefit withholding in writing with opt-in and opt-out terms if you fund portable benefits.
6. Check Form I-9 editions, EAD dates and old E-Verify records, and remove references to the 2012 EEOC guidance from criminal history procedures.

What does this mean for staffing agencies in Louisiana?

Health care clients must run these checks before they employ or contract with a nonlicensed worker, so agencies that place nursing assistants, sitters and similar staff should expect clients to apply the October 1, 2026 offense list and ask for compliance records, and Act 659 means a check one employer receives cannot be passed to another employer seeking a referral. Agencies and platforms using independent contractors can offer portable benefits under Act 299 without the contribution itself pointing to employment, and agencies running internship or apprenticeship pipelines must drop non-compete terms. Licensing for agencies themselves is in our Louisiana staffing agency guide, and other states' changes are in new hiring laws for 2027.