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Article VII, §14 of the Louisiana Constitution prohibits the payment of a bonus, or any other gratuitous unearned payment, to public employees. Payments of additional compensation to public employees, in order to be constitutionally valid, must be in the form of prospective salary increases. Payments to be legal must be in the form of salary increases for the future, not extra compensation for past services rendered. AG Op. No. 10-0299.
If the public entity had not previously obligated itself to pay the employee extra compensation (i.e., a raise), then it cannot pay the employee more than she is owed for extra work completed in the past. To do so, would be paying a public employee a bonus in violation of Article VII, §14 of the Louisiana Constitution. AG Op. No. 09-0260.
Louisiana Legislative Auditor website: 06/30/2025 12:29:38 AM
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