PART II. EMPLOYMENT OF MINORS IN

THEATRICAL PERFORMANCES OR EXHIBITIONS

§251. Minors under sixteen; prohibited employments or occupations; penalty

            A. No minor under sixteen years of age shall be employed, exhibited, used, or trained for the purpose of exhibition:

            (1) As a rope or wire walker, gymnast, wrestler, contortionist, stunt rider, or acrobat upon any bicycle or other similar mechanical vehicle or contrivance.

            (2) In any illegal, indecent, or immoral exhibition or practice.

            (3) In the exhibition of such minor if he has a mental illness or an intellectual disability, or presents the appearance of any deformity or unnatural physical formation or development.

            (4) In any practice, exhibition, or place, dangerous or injurious to the life, limbs, health, or morals of the minor.

            B. Any person who employs, exhibits, uses, or trains for the purpose of exhibition, or any parent, tutor, or other person having the custody or control of any minor or any talent agent representing such minor who sells, lets out, gives away, trains, or consents to the employment, training, use, or exhibition of such minor, or neglects or refuses to restrain such minor from training, engaging, or acting in any of the above mentioned exhibitions or performances, shall be guilty of contributing to the delinquency of minors, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars, or imprisoned for not more than two years, or both.

            C. Any person violating the provisions of this Section shall, in addition to the criminal penalty provided in Subsection B, be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed five hundred dollars.

            D. Reasonable litigation expenses may be awarded to the prevailing party of the adjudicatory hearing. "Reasonable litigation expenses" means any expenses, not exceeding seven thousand five hundred dollars, reasonably incurred in prosecuting, opposing, or contesting an agency action, including but not limited to attorney fees, stenographer fees, investigative fees and expenses, witness fees and expenses, and administrative costs.

            E. Civil penalties for violation of this Section may be imposed by the Louisiana Workforce Commission only by a ruling of the secretary pursuant to an adjudicatory hearing held in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act.

            F. The secretary may institute civil proceedings in the Nineteenth Judicial District Court to enforce his rulings. The court shall award to the prevailing party reasonable attorney fees and judicial interest on such civil penalties from the date of judgment until paid and all court costs.

            G. The secretary may institute civil proceedings in the Nineteenth Judicial District Court seeking injunctive relief to restrain and prevent violations of the provisions of this Section or of the rules and regulations adopted under the provisions of this Section. The court shall award reasonable attorney fees and court costs to the prevailing party.

            H. The secretary is empowered to enforce the civil provisions of this Section and to adopt and promulgate such reasonable rules and regulations and to conduct such investigations as he deems necessary to ensure enforcement of this Section.

            Acts 1992, No. 444, §1; Acts 1993, No. 611, §1, eff. June 15, 1993; Acts 2008, No. 743, §7, eff. July 1, 2008; Acts 2011, No. 177, §1; Acts 2014, No. 811, §12, eff. June 23, 2014.