Louisiana Final Paycheck Demand Letter

It is a written demand a departed Louisiana employee sends a former employer to collect final wages that were not paid by the deadline Louisiana sets. The letter names the wages owed, the separation date and type, and the deadline the employer missed under La. R.S. 23:631, and it demands payment by a set date. Because Louisiana has no state agency that decides private wage claims, the letter documents that you asked for your wages before you file suit, and it can reserve the penalty wages and attorney fees available under La. R.S. 23:632.

The deadline is the same whether you were fired or you quit. Upon a discharge or a resignation, the employer must pay the amount then due on or before the next regular payday, or no later than 15 days following the date of discharge or resignation, whichever occurs first (La. R.S. 23:631(A)(1)). Once that deadline passes with no payment, a demand letter is the usual next step before filing suit.

When a Louisiana employer fails or refuses to pay final wages under La. R.S. 23:631, on a well-founded suit it can be liable for penalty wages of either 90 days of wages at the employee's daily rate of pay, or full wages from the time the employee's demand for payment is made until the employer pays, whichever is the lesser amount (La. R.S. 23:632(A)). The court can also award reasonable attorney fees. The penalty does not apply if the employer had a good-faith dispute over the amount owed, in which case it owes only the disputed wages plus judicial interest (La. R.S. 23:632(B)).

It depends on your employer's policy. In Louisiana, accrued unused vacation is considered an amount then due only if, under the employer's stated vacation policy, you are deemed eligible for and have accrued the right to paid vacation, and you have not taken or been compensated for that vacation as of the date of discharge or resignation (La. R.S. 23:631(D)). If your policy meets those conditions, list the unpaid accrued vacation in your Louisiana demand letter along with your earned unpaid wages.

A Louisiana employer generally cannot assess fines against employees or deduct any sum as fines from their wages, except for the actual amount of damage where the employee willfully or negligently damaged property or was convicted of theft of the employer's funds, and the fine cannot exceed the actual damage (La. R.S. 23:635). An employer also cannot require you to sign a contract forfeiting wages if you are discharged or resign; you are entitled to the wages actually earned up to your separation (La. R.S. 23:634). You can dispute an improper deduction in your demand letter.

Louisiana has no state agency that adjudicates private final-wage claims; the Louisiana Workforce Commission does not decide them. You enforce La. R.S. 23:631 and 23:632 by filing suit for the unpaid wages, penalty wages, and reasonable attorney fees, usually in a city, parish, or justice of the peace small claims court for smaller amounts, or in district court for larger claims. Sending a written demand first often resolves the dispute and, if it does not, it becomes evidence that you tried to collect.

In Louisiana, an action for the recovery of compensation for services rendered, including salaries and wages, is subject to a liberative prescription of three years (La. Civ. Code art. 3494(1)). Prescription can turn on the facts, so sending your demand letter and filing your suit promptly is the practical course rather than waiting near the three-year limit.