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House Labor Also Weighs Wages and Bevy of Comp Bills
In what might be the most stacked committee agenda of session, Thursday’s House Labor Committee features nine LABI-tracked bills. We have a separate breakdown of HB 549 by Rep. Stephanie Berault (R-Slidell)—which creates the Bayou Growth Opportunity Workforce Program (BayouWorks)—here. In this report, we will outline some of the measures—both supported and opposed—that members will consider.
LABI-opposed HB 209 by Rep. Delisha Boyd (D-New Orleans) would establish a state minimum wage starting at $10 in 2027, rising to $12 in 2029 and $14 in 2031, with enforcement through Louisiana Works. The legislation also creates a new cause of action, which LABI consistently opposes.
LABI-opposed HB 353 by Rep. Tammy Phelps (D-Shreveport) would set the minimum wage at $12 in 2027, increase it to $15 in 2029 and then tie future hikes to the consumer price index, also enforced through LA Works.
HB 1119 by Rep. Phelps, opposed by LABI, proposes to limit employer rights and remedies concerning vocational rehabilitation and second medical opinion (SMO) exams of injured workers. Current law allows employers to suspend benefits when the employee receives proper notice but fails to attend an SMO exam or cooperate with vocational rehab.
Rep. Phelps’s bill would require employers to request a hearing and obtain a judicial order before suspending benefits, causing unnecessary delays and raising costs for a WC system already among the most expensive in the country.
SB 162 by Sen. Alan Sebaugh (R-Many) would ensure that appeals of medical treatment decisions in workers’ compensation cases function as true appeals, with judges reviewing only the evidence originally submitted to the medical director. This change aims to reduce delays and litigation costs caused by the current practice of introducing new evidence during appeals. Under an agreed-upon amendment, judges would still be allowed to send new evidence back to the medical director for review and possible reconsideration.
SB 382, also by Sen. Seabaugh, repeals the ineffective Workers’ Compensation Advisory Council. The WCAC, first created in the 1980s, is an obsolete body that has not met for several years after being active during the Blanco and Jindal administrations. Its influence eroded under Gov. John Bel Edwards due to a membership largely composed of trial lawyers and labor representatives. Maintaining this inactive and ineffective council is a waste of government resources.