The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Louisiana
- Level
- State
- Authority
- La. Const. art. III; La. R.S. 1950 (Title 23, Chapter 1, Part I, General Provisions)
- Effective
- standing throughout 2020 Q2 to 2021 Q3
- End
- standing (read as 2021-09-30)
- In force
- Standing (a statutory duty; in force throughout the six quarters)
- Quarters
- 2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Workplace rulesStanding duty
- Addressees
- employers (every employer, except private domestic service and agricultural field occupations)
- Character
- workplace duty
- Collection
- Standing duties: Louisiana DUT-LA
Operative words
Every employer shall furnish employment which shall be reasonably safe for the employees therein. They shall furnish and use safety devices and safeguards, shall adopt and use methods and processes reasonably adequate to render such employment and the place of employment safe..., and shall do every other thing reasonably necessary to protect the life, health, safety and welfare of such employees.
Penalty
The section states the duty; it is enforced through the Louisiana Workers' Compensation Law (R.S. 23:1021 et seq.), the intentional-act exception of R.S. 23:1032(B), and the tort standard of care; Louisiana has no State OSHA plan, so the federal general duty clause and OSHA standards (29 U.S.C. 654(a)(1), 29 U.S.C. 666) governed private workplaces directly (Exs. DUT-GA-008, DUT-FL-015)
What it required
Every Louisiana employer (other than private domestic service and agricultural field occupations) must keep the employment and the place of employment reasonably safe by methods and processes in accordance with accepted and approved practice in its industry and must do every other thing reasonably necessary to protect employees' life and health; during the pandemic the accepted and approved practice was the distancing, screening, sanitation and face-covering protocols the proclamations and the State Fire Marshal's guidance prescribed.
Retrieval noteOfficial statute page rendered Sept. 28, 2026. Full first sentence verbatim (the ellipsis in the quotation field omits 'in accordance with the accepted and approved practice in such or similar industry or places of employment considering the normal hazard of such employment'). The section's second paragraph exempts 'employment in private domestic service or... agricultural field occupations.' Louisiana is a federal-OSHA jurisdiction for private employers (no approved State plan under 29 U.S.C. 667); OSHA's COVID-19 enforcement instruments are in the library under AGY-FED-LABOR-IMMIGRATION-015 to -033, -087, -088 and -095.