Paid leave questioned by Idaho lawmakers

BOISE – A state agency deputy director who was replaced last June is still on the state payroll, drawing his full $87,000-a-year salary through Dec. 31 even though he hasn’t come to work since June 8.

That’s the highest-cost example this year of the use of paid administrative leave by the state – a type of leave that’s entirely discretionary, has no time limits and even allows the employee to continue accumulating state-paid vacation and sick leave benefits while on paid leave.

Former state Agriculture Department Deputy Director Mike Everett has been on paid administrative leave since the day Gov. Jim Risch announced his replacement.

“I thought he was gone, period,” said Rep. Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, co-chair of the budget-writing Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. “If that’s the way the system is set up, it’s a disappointment to me. … It’s a heck of an amount of money.”

Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, the joint committee’s Senate vice-chair, said, “I knew that Mr. Everett had been dismissed or relieved of his duties. … I find it very curious. … I know we have a surplus, but there’s always other needs that we could be funding.”

According to records from the state Controller’s Office, 1,291 state employees have received paid administrative leave since June. All but 60 of those received less than 40 hours of the paid leave. After Everett, the next highest paid leave totals were racked up by a Commerce and Labor employee who has been paid for more than 12 weeks of leave since June.

Three employees at the Corrections Department and one at Juvenile Corrections each have received six weeks or more of paid leave. One employee each at the departments of Health and Welfare, Idaho State Police and Idaho Historical Society has received four weeks since June.

State Human Resources Director Carolyn Terteling-Payne said paid administrative leave typically is used for short-term needs like giving an employee a couple of hours off to attend a funeral, or for longer-term issues like an investigation or reorganization in a department.

“That is not uncommon and it is not illegal,” Terteling-Payne said. “It’s a tool, but it is not used across the board.”

She said she was unaware that the Agriculture Department official had been put on paid leave for seven months, virtually the entire Risch administration.

“I am very surprised. I didn’t know this,” Terteling-Payne said.

She said the state has other kinds of leave to deal with specific situations. If there were a medical issue, for example, “Normally that would be medical leave,” she said.

David Hensley, legal counsel to Risch, said, “I don’t believe the governor ever said he was going to fire Mike Everett. … Mike Everett is on paid administrative leave through Dec. 31 of 2006. It’s a personnel issue, and it’s inappropriate for the governor’s office to address that matter.”

When Risch held a press conference in June to announce an array of new state appointees, he announced the appointment of Phil Bandy, the Agriculture Department’s former invasive species coordinator, as the new deputy director. “He replaces Mike Everett,” the governor’s press release stated. “Phil is very deserving of this appointment and will continue his outstanding work for the citizens of Idaho,” Risch said at the time.

In an interview Thursday, Risch said, “This employee was placed on leave for medical reasons. … I think every case is an individual case, and has to be viewed as an individual case.”

Senate Finance Chairman Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, said, “I do know that Mike has a daughter who has been extremely ill.”

Cameron said, “I suppose it does surprise me a little bit that he’s still on the payroll, if you will, but that may have been whatever negotiations took place to have the change made that Gov. Risch wanted to have made.”

Outgoing state Agriculture Director Pat Takasugi said, “If the legislators want to take a look at it, they can look all they want. … You have to look at every one of them as individuals and in relationship to the department and the end it serves. So … I think it’s really tough when you start talking about personnel issues to talk one shoe fits all.”

Idaho’s administrative rule covering paid administrative leave is just one sentence long. It reads, “At the discretion of the appointing authority, an employee may be granted administrative leave with pay when such leave is in the best interest of the department.”

Brad Foltman, head of the state Division of Financial Management, said Idaho has had paid administrative leave since the 1960s.

“It gives management some discretion to manage their workforce without it adversely affecting the employee,” he said. “It also has been used for issues of improprieties while an investigation occurs.”

However, Foltman said, “Over time it has expanded its scope. Really, in my opinion, it probably needs to be rethought.”

He recalled one long-term administrative leave in past years when a state employee was involved in a court case. “It’s a judgment call on the part of management,” Foltman said.

Rep. Anne Pasley-Stuart, D-Boise, a human resources professional, said, “It looks to me like it needs a careful examination. … What we’re doing is leaving ourselves wide open for charges of favoritism. … You always want to ask yourself, ‘Are we being fair and are we being prudent,’ whenever a benefit is extended.”

Keough said she, too, favors a review of the leave rule. “Especially where it’s a political appointment, that could lead to inappropriate situations or favoritism, which the public rightfully would disapprove of,” she said. “There is, unfortunately, the opportunity in the political arena for abuse, and in today’s world we need to guard the public’s money and the public’s respect for government very judiciously.”

As to whether the former Agriculture official’s long-term administrative leave continues after Dec. 31, that’s up to the new administration of Gov.-Elect Butch Otter. Jon Hanian, Otter’s spokesman, said, “It’s a personnel matter that involves the current administration – we don’t assume office till Jan. 1, and that’s when he’ll take a look at it.”

Betsy Z. Russell can be reached toll-free at (866) 336-2854, or by e-mail at bzrussell@gmail.com. For more news from Boise, see her Web log, www.spokesmanreview.com/boise.