Twice this December, a month of traditional gift-giving, Idaho taxpayers have learned about the generosity with which state government treats certain workers.

The first example was the practice of handing out bonuses, brought to light after departing superintendent of schools Marilyn Howard distributed more than $120,000 to her staff on her way out the door.

It now turns out that 1,291 state employees have received paid administrative leaves since June. Most were for periods of less than a week, but in at least nine instances, workers were given paid time off for periods ranging from four weeks up to longer than six months.

The most conspicuous example is that of Mike Everett, former deputy director of the state Agriculture Department, who has now been on paid administrative leave for almost 29 weeks, not having reported to the job since June 8 when Gov. Jim Risch replaced him with Phil Bandy.

Circumstances for such leaves will vary from person to person and situation to situation. What looks from the outside like a sweetheart deal may well involve large measures of compassionate response to genuine personal anguish.

It’s hard to tell, though, since paid leaves are assigned at the discretion of agency heads under a vaguely worded administrative rule requiring only that the action be in the best interest of the department. It can be used, for instance, to take a suspect employee out of the workplace while his or her alleged misconduct is being investigated. Or it can be used to allow a worker to take an afternoon off to attend a funeral. Or it can be used as it was in Everett’s case, which Risch says involves medical reasons but which hasn’t been explained in detail.

While the practice is relatively common, judging by the numbers, news of it caught several state lawmakers off guard, and even the state Human Services director, Carolyn Terteling-Payne, was “very surprised” to find out how long Everett has been getting paid for doing nothing.

State Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, who is Senate vice chairman for the Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, says it’s time to re-examine the 40-year-old practice and give it more clarity and structure. Potentially, she said, that task could be incorporated in a state employee compensation study that got under way last year.

Certainly the Legislature, which sets state policy and approves spending levels, needs to take steps to prevent abuse and favoritism that could proliferate under the current system.

As Brad Foltman, head of the Division of Financial Management, understated, “Over time, it has expanded its scope.”

Seemingly so. Without question, there needs to be more clarity about when and why administrative paid leave should be granted, and there should be ongoing oversight so legislators and other state officials aren’t taken by surprise again.