§996. Cease and desist order; injunctive relief

A. An agency, department, board or commission of the state or any political subdivision may notify the attorney general or the district attorney that the agency has determined, after an investigation initiated by the agency or by a private party's written complaint to the agency, that an employer who operates a Louisiana business or enterprise is knowingly employing an undocumented alien in violation of this Chapter.

B. The attorney general or district attorney in the parish in which the employer is domiciled or in the parish in which the violation occurred is empowered to issue an order to the employer engaged in the activity constituting the violation of the provision of this Chapter directing such employer to cease and desist from such activity and to discharge from employment, for cause, the undocumented workers. Such order shall be issued in the name of the state of Louisiana under the official seal of the attorney general or the official seal of the district attorney and shall be served where the employer is domiciled in the state of Louisiana or the employer's registered agent in the state of Louisiana.

C. If the employer to whom the attorney general or district attorney directs a cease and desist order does not cease and desist the proscribed activity within ten days from service of such cease and desist order by certified mail, the attorney general or local district attorney may cause to issue a writ of injunction enjoining such employer from engaging in any activity proscribed by this Chapter. Such proceeding shall be brought in the district court having civil jurisdiction in any parish in which such employer has as its principal place of business or the parish where the violation has occurred. If the employer in violation of this Chapter is a nonresident entity, such proceeding may be brought in the Nineteenth Judicial District Court for the parish of East Baton Rouge. All other provisions of law relative to injunctive relief apply. Exhaustion of administrative remedies is not a prerequisite to judicial review.

D. Any employer who is found by the court to have violated a cease and desist order of the attorney general or district attorney after it has become final and while such order is in effect, shall forfeit and pay to the state of Louisiana a sum of up to ten thousand dollars, unless the employer shows good cause to the satisfaction of the issuer that the determination was issued in error.

E. Once an employer is found by the court to have violated a cease and desist order of the attorney general or district attorney, the attorney general or district attorney may file a complaint with the appropriate licensing board or boards to have any employer's business license suspended or revoked.

F. The provisions of this Section shall not apply to employers with ten or fewer employees.

Acts 2006, No. 636, §1, eff. June 23, 2006.