§ 23:302 — Definitions

Louisiana § 23:302

• Jurisdiction: Louisiana
• Title 23: Labor and Workers' Compensation

Text

§302. Definitions
For purposes of this Chapter and unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the
following terms shall have the following meanings ascribed to them:
(1) "Employee" means an individual employed by an employer.
(2) "Employer" means a person, association, legal or commercial entity, the state, or
any state agency, board, commission, or political subdivision of the state receiving services
from an employee and, in return, giving compensation of any kind to an employee. The
provisions of this Chapter shall apply only to an employer who employs twenty or more
employees within this state for each working day in each of twenty or more calendar weeks
in the current or preceding calendar year. "Employer" shall also include an insurer, as
defined in R.S. 22:46, with respect to appointment of agents, regardless of the character of
the agent's employment. This Chapter shall not apply to the following:
(a) Employment of an individual by a parent, spouse, or child or to employment in
the domestic service of the employer.
(b) Employment of an individual by a private educational or religious institution or
any nonprofit corporation, or the employment by a school, college, university, or other
educational institution or institution of learning of persons having a particular religion if the
school, college, university, or other educational institution or institution of learning is, in
whole or in substantial part, owned, supported, controlled, or managed by a particular
religion or by a particular religious corporation, association, or society, or if the curriculum
of the school, college, university, other educational institution, or institution of learning is
directed toward the propagation of a particular religion.
(3) "Employment agency" means any person or agency, public or private, regularly
undertaking, with or without compensation, the procurement of employees for an employer
or the procurement of opportunities for employees to work for an employer.
(4) "Genetic monitoring" means the periodic examination of employees to evaluate
acquired modifications to their genetic material, such as chromosomal damage or evidence
of increased occurrence of mutations, that may have developed in the course of employment
due to exposure to toxic substances in the workplace, in order to identify, evaluate, respond
to the effects of, or control adverse environmental exposures in the workplace.
(5) "Genetic services" means health services, including genetic tests, provided to
obtain, assess, or interpret genetic information for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes, or for
genetic education or counseling.
(6) "Genetic test" means the analysis of human DNA, RNA, chromosomes, and those
proteins and metabolites used to detect heritable or somatic disease-related genotypes or
karyotypes for clinical purposes. A genetic test must be generally accepted in the scientific
and medical communities as being specifically determinative for the presence, absence, or
mutation of a gene or chromosome in order to qualify under this definition. Genetic test does
not include a routine physical examination or a routine analysis, including but not limited to
a chemical analysis, of body fluids, unless conducted specifically to determine the presence,
absence, or mutation of a gene or chromosome.
(7) "Labor organization" means any organization which exists for the purpose, in
whole or in part, of collective bargaining or of dealing with employers concerning
grievances, terms, or conditions of employment, or for other mutual aid or protection in
relation to employment or any agent acting for such an organization.
(8) "Medically necessary" means those healthcare services that are in accordance
with generally accepted evidence-based medical standards or that are considered by most
physicians or independent licensed practitioners within the community of their respective
professional organizations to be the standard of care.
(a) In order to be considered medically necessary, services shall be deemed
reasonably necessary to diagnose, correct, cure, alleviate, or prevent the worsening of a
condition or conditions that endanger life, cause suffering or pain, or have resulted or will
result in a handicap, physical deformity, or malfunction, and those for which no equally
effective and less costly course of treatment is available or suitable for the recipient.
(b) Services that are experimental, not approved by the Food and Drug
Administration, investigational, or cosmetic are not deemed medically necessary and are
specifically excluded from coverage unless coverage for early screening and detection is
provided for in Part III of Chapter 4 of Title 22 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950.
(9) "Preventive cancer screening" means healthcare services necessary for the
detection of cancer in an individual, including but not limited to magnetic resonance
imaging, ultrasound, or some combination of tests.
(10) "Protected genetic information" means information about an individual's genetic
tests, the genetic tests of an individual's family members, or the occurrence of a disease, or
medical condition or disorder in family members of the individual.

Legislative History

Acts 1997, No. 1409, §1, eff. Aug. 1, 1997; Acts 1999, No. 1366, §1; Acts 2001, No. 330, §1; Acts 2008, No. 415, §2, eff. Jan. 1, 2009; Acts 2023, No. 210, §1.