Questions remain about how a one-time, five-figure stipend Louisiana judges are set to receive will be disbursed.
At issue is Act 775, which began as House Bill 781 introduced by state Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro. It appropriates some $213 million to cover the expenses of various courts in Louisiana—salaries, insurance premiums, office expenses and the like.
The bill also originally stipulated that judges receive a one-time stipend—$14,961 for district court judges, $15,280 for Supreme Court justices and $17,680 for appellate court judges—upon the completion of a work point study to determine whether Louisiana has too many or too few judges. But Landry vetoed the study requirement before signing the bill into law, leaving the generous bonus compensation intact.
The Louisiana Supreme Court staff is now tasked with sorting out how to implement the bonus, but details on how it will be handled remain sketchy.
Still unknown is whether the courts are reviewing potential legal issues with the law, such as whether it violates Article VII, Section 14 of the Louisiana Constitution prohibiting the payment of a bonus―or any other gratuitous unearned payment―to public employees. According to a Louisiana Attorney General’s opinion, payments must be in the form of salary increases for the future, not extra compensation for past services rendered.
Additionally, there currently exists no known timeline or protocol for how the stipends will be distributed, such as whether they will be paid over the course of a year, or as a lump sum, or how the stipend might impact retirement benefits.
Supreme Court staff also could not yet say whether any clawback provision will apply to the stipends if a judge does not complete a full year of work.
“We are in the process of reviewing the enacting legislation for stipends for judges, and we hope to have a final determination soon as to the manner in which the stipends will be distributed as authorized and directed by the Act,” Robert Gunn, deputy judicial administrator for community relations, tells Daily Report. “… This review and deliberative process is ongoing.”
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