<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans’;" class="R~sep~ACopyBody">My daughter applied for a job, and they charged her for a background check. This does not seem legal or fair. I was wondering if there is a law one way or the other.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">There is.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“The Medical Exam and Drug Testing Law in Louisiana prohibits an employer from requiring an employee, or applicant for employment, to bear the cost of a medical exam, a drug test, fingerprint, or the cost of furnishing any records required by the employer as a condition of employment,” reads a state</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">labor department guide for business owners.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“An employer may require the employee or applicant to submit to such tests, but may not make the employee bear the costs, except under certain limited circumstances.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Louisiana R.S. 23:897 says employers can seek reimbursement from a worker</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">or new hire “for the costs of such employee’s or applicant’s preemployment medical examination or drug test” if the person quits, doesn’t show for work or is fired within 90 days of starting the job and the person earns more than a dollar over the federal minimum wage.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The reimbursement provision doesn’t apply to part-timers or seasonal employees.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The law includes criminal and civil penalties for employers who violate the statute.</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote"> </span>

<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Online:</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">www.laworks.net; www.legis.la.gov.</span>

<span class="R~sep~AHeadBrief">COLA tied to federal index of inflation</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans’;" class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Social Security recipients did not get a cost-of-living raise. Why not?</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">As The Informer noted in October, the automatic cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security is tied to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“If the increase in the CPI-W is at least one-tenth of one percent (0.1 percent), there will be a COLA,” reads a Social Security Administration fact sheet.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“However, if the CPI-W increases by less than 0.05 percent, or if the CPI-W decreases, there won’t be a COLA.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Because the index didn’t increase between the third quarter of 2014 and the third quarter of 2015, no COLA was be applied.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">COLAs since 2010, according to the SSA:</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">January 2010 — 0 percent.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">January 2011 — 0 percent.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">January 2012 — 3.6 percent.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">January 2013 — 1.7 percent.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">January 2014 — 1.5 percent.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">January 2015 — 1.7 percent.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">January 2016 — 0 percent.</span>

<span class="R~sep~AZaphdingbatdot7pt">l</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Online:</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">www.ssa.gov/news/cola.</span>

<span class="R~sep~AHeadBrief">Report gunshots to police or deputies</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans’;" class="R~sep~ACopyBody">I live in Westlake, and I sometimes hear gunshots. Who should I call to report the gunshots?</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">You can call Westlake police at 433-4151 or the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office at 491-3600.</span>

<span class="R~sep~AZaphdingbatdot7pt">l</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Online:</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">http://cityofwestlake.com; www.cpso.com.</span>

<span class="R~sep~AZaphdingbatdot7pt">l</span>

<span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">The I</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">nform</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">er answers questions from rea</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">ders each Sunday, Monday a</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">nd Wednesday. It is re</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">searched and written by</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Andrew Perzo</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">, an</span> <span style="font-style: italic; font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">American Press</span> <span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">staff wri</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">ter. To ask a question, call</span> <span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">494-409</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">8 and leave voice mail, or ema</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">il informer@americanpress.com.</span>