Louisiana Call Recording Laws: One-Party Consent

Louisiana is a one-party consent state: you may record a phone call or conversation you are part of, or one where a participant has given prior consent. But Louisiana punishes unlawful interception severely, with two to ten years at hard labor and a fine of up to $10,000.

For businesses, the one-party rule allows recording your own customer calls. The penalties for getting it wrong are reason enough to use a clear recording policy.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Louisiana recording law at a glance

Question	Answer in Louisiana
Consent rule for phone calls	One party
Main statute	La. R.S. 15:1303 (Electronic Surveillance Act)
Can a participant record without telling others?	Yes
Criminal penalty	Fine up to $10,000 and 2 to 10 years at hard labor
Civil remedy	La. R.S. 15:1312
Cellphones	Expressly covered

What the statute says

Louisiana's Electronic Surveillance Act, La. R.S. 15:1301 and following, mirrors the federal Wiretap Act in structure. Section 15:1303(A) makes it unlawful to willfully intercept a wire, electronic or oral communication, to use a device to intercept oral communications, or to disclose or use the contents of a communication knowing it was illegally intercepted.

Section 15:1303(B) sets the penalty: a fine of not more than $10,000 and imprisonment for not less than two years nor more than ten years at hard labor.

The one-party exception is § 15:1303(C)(4):

"It shall not be unlawful under this Chapter for a person not acting under color of law to intercept a wire, electronic, or oral communication where such person is a party to the communication or where one of the parties to the communication has given prior consent to such interception, unless such communication is intercepted for the purpose of committing any criminal or tortious act..."

What is covered

According to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP):

• Phone calls. Louisiana defines electronic communication to specifically include "cordless, portable, or cellular telephone communication" (§ 15:1302(8)).
• Texts and email. The definition covers "any transfer of signs, signals, writings, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature," so one-party consent also governs intercepting messages.
• In-person conversations. Oral communications are protected where parties have a reasonable expectation of privacy (§ 15:1302(15)). Public conversations generally are not.

Penalties

Violation	Statute	Penalty
Intercepting a call or conversation without a party's consent	§ 15:1303	Up to $10,000 and 2 to 10 years at hard labor
Disclosing or using contents known to be illegally intercepted	§ 15:1303	Same
Video voyeurism	§ 14:283	RCFP: 2 to 5 years at hard labor and up to $10,000

A minimum of two years at hard labor puts Louisiana among the strictest states on penalties, even though its consent rule is permissive.

Civil liability

Louisiana's civil remedy is at La. R.S. 15:1312. According to the RCFP, anyone whose communications are intercepted, disclosed or used in violation of the Act may recover actual damages, $100 a day or $1,000, whichever is greater, plus punitive damages, attorney's fees and litigation costs.

The RCFP also notes that a person may face civil liability, though not criminal liability, for broadcasting, publishing or distributing an illegally intercepted communication even without knowing it was illegal (§ 15:1307; Keller v. Aymond, La. App. 3 Cir. 1998). For a business, that is a reason not to circulate recordings of uncertain origin.

Federal law

Louisiana's rule matches the federal Wiretap Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d): a party may record, or a non-party with a party's consent, unless for a criminal or tortious purpose. Complying with Louisiana law generally keeps you within federal law.

Purpose still matters

Consent under § 15:1303(C)(4) does not protect a recording made "for the purpose of committing any criminal or tortious act." A participant who records a call to blackmail the other person, or to support a fraudulent claim, loses the one-party protection and faces the full penalty. Business recordings made for quality, training, documentation and dispute resolution are the uses the exception is designed for. Writing those purposes into your recording policy helps show why you record.

Calls between Louisiana and neighboring states

Neighboring state	Rule for phone calls
Texas	One-party
Arkansas	One-party
Mississippi	One-party

Louisiana's neighbors are all one-party states. The Gulf Coast economy still connects Louisiana businesses to Florida, an all-party state, and offshore, maritime and energy companies deal with counterparts nationwide. Read interstate call recording consent and see the state-by-state table.

Three Louisiana scenarios

A New Orleans hotel records reservation calls. The agent is a party, so § 15:1303(C)(4) applies. Many callers are in California, Florida or Illinois, so the hotel plays a recording notice.

A Baton Rouge contractor's office manager listens in on a call between a foreman and a supplier using a second handset, without telling either. No participant consented. That is interception, and the penalty floor is two years at hard labor.

A Lafayette business receives a recording of a competitor's internal call from an anonymous source. Using or distributing it can bring civil liability under § 15:1307 even if the business did not know it was illegal, and criminal exposure if it did. Do not use it.

What this means for Louisiana businesses

Energy, maritime and logistics

Operations calls are often recorded for safety and dispute resolution. Record your own lines, announce the recording, and keep recordings in a controlled system.

Tourism and hospitality

Visitors call from across the country. A notice on every recorded call covers callers from all-party states.

Legal and medical offices

Recordings with privileged or health information need strict access controls.

Employees

A signed recording and monitoring policy documents your side's consent.

Recording in maritime and offshore operations

Vessel-to-shore and offshore communications often run over radio and satellite systems, and the parties may be in different states or on the water. Louisiana's statute covers wire, electronic and oral communications broadly, and federal law also applies. Operations teams that record radio and phone traffic for safety should document the practice, tell crews and counterparties, and limit who can access the recordings.

Louisiana recording checklist

• Recording notice at the start of recorded inbound calls
• Spoken notice on outbound recorded calls
• Signed employee policy on recording and monitoring
• No listening in on calls without a participant's consent
• No use or distribution of recordings of uncertain origin
• Callers who object are not recorded
• Access controls and retention schedule

Wording is in call recording disclosure scripts.

Recording calls in Louisiana with Callata

With recording turned on, Callata plays "This call may be recorded." to both sides as the call connects, on inbound and outbound calls. Recordings are transcribed and summarized with sentiment and action items on the contact's history, stored privately and shared only through short-lived signed links. Callata's terms keep consent-law compliance with you. Callata Office is $99 a month with five users included, and each additional user is $20 a month; recording comes with the plan. Sign up.