Page 175 - An Indispensible Resource for Being a Credible Activist

amendment won’t apply to any person, firm, or company engaged or employed in the explo-
ration, drilling, or production of oil or gas in the State or its territorial waters.
Equal employment opportunity. The State’s Revised Statutes were amended to add a
section that allows no interruption in the prescriptive time requirement because the plain-
tiff failed to give the appropriate amount of time pursuant to an upcoming discrimination
case. Currently, Section C of the Statute specifies that a plaintiff who believes that he or she
has been discriminated against and who intends to pursue court action must give the per-
son who has allegedly discriminated written notice of this fact at least 30 days before initi-
ating court action. The notice should detail the alleged discrimination, and both parties shall
make a good-faith effort to resolve the dispute prior to initiating court action. The new
Section D stipulates that the prescriptive period for the case shall be one year, but can be
suspended during the pendency of any administrative review or investigation of the claim
conducted by the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or the State
Commission on Human Rights. However, no suspension of the 1-year prescriptive period
shall last longer than six months, and the prescriptive period shall not be interrupted for
failure to give the appropriate written notice even if there are other investigations pending.
Overtime. The Governor of the State implemented an Executive order that suspends
Federal regulations pertaining to hours of service for drivers of utility service vehicles oper-
ated by utilities that are engaged solely in intrastate commerce and are regulated by the
Louisiana Public Service Commission or the city of New Orleans. This order is active under
the rules of State Proclamation No. 51 BJ 2008, which declares Louisiana to be in a state of
emergency as a result of forecasted hurricane activity that threatens the lives and property
of the citizens of the State. The order will remain effective until amended, modified, termi-
nated, or rescinded by the Governor or until terminated by the operation of the law.
Whistleblower. The whistleblower protections provided for public employees in the
State were amended. Any public employee who reports, to a person or entity of competent
authority or jurisdiction, information that the employee reasonably believes indicates a vio-
lation of any law, of any order, rule, or regulation issued in accordance with law, or of any
other alleged acts of impropriety related to the scope or duties of public employment or pub-
lic office within any branch or other political subdivision of State government shall be free
from discipline, reprisal, or threats of discipline or reprisal by the public employer for report-
ing such acts of alleged impropriety. No supervisor, agency head, or any other employee
with authority to hire, fire, or discipline employees, and no elected official, shall subject to
reprisal or threaten to subject to reprisal any public employee because of the employee’s
efforts to disclose such acts of alleged impropriety. If any public employee is suspended,
demoted, dismissed, or threatened with suspension, demotion, or dismissal, as an act of
reprisal for reporting an alleged act of impropriety in violation of State statute, the employee
shall report such action to the State Board of Ethics.
Worker privacy. Trust companies were added to the list of financial institutions, such as
banks, savings and loan associations, or credit unions, that may provide, to any other such
financial institution, a written employment reference that may include information reported
to Federal banking regulators. Where written employment references contain such infor-
mation, and where a copy of the written employment reference is sent to the last known
address of the employee in question, a bank, savings and loan association, trust company,

158 The H R Toolkit