State Agency Overtime Hits Record $611 Million
Overtime earnings at state agencies rose to a record $611 million in
2013, a nearly 16 percent increase compared to 2012, according to a
report released by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. Overtime increased in 2013 for the third straight year.
“State employees logged 14.8 million overtime hours last year,
costing taxpayers a record $611 million. New York’s overtime bill is
increasing and needs to be reined in,”DiNapoli said. “State agencies
should take a hard look at how they are using overtime and for what. To
hold the line on state spending, state agencies should double their
efforts to reduce this expensive habit.”
DiNapoli’s report found
for the seven-year period ending in 2013, overtime earnings were up by
27.3 percent. Overtime represented 3.9 percent of total payroll in 2013,
the highest share in the years analyzed for the report.
Three agencies that operate institutional facilities - the Office of
Mental Health (OMH), the Department of Corrections and Community
Supervision (DOCCS) and the Office for People with Developmental
Disabilities - accounted for 63.5 percent of the overtime hours in 2013.
Total overtime hours dropped slightly at all three, compared with
2012. Other agencies paid high hourly rates for overtime, such as the
State Police, which spent an average of $74.35 per hour of overtime at a
cost of $35 million. DOCCS paid the next highest average of $51.18 per
hour of overtime for a total of $160 million.
Meanwhile,
DiNapoli’s report found the state’s agency workforce has declined 10.9
percent, from 180,564 in 2007 to 160,829 last year, excluding the State
University of New York and City University of New York.
Metro North and LIRR Lax in Monitoring Overtime Paid For With Federal Stimulus Funds
Separate audits of Metro-North Railroad and the Long Island Rail Road
(LIRR) found they failed to properly manage overtime paid by funds from
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), allowing abuses such
as allowing some conductors to charge overtime for tasks such as
washing up for work, New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli
announced today.
“There’s significant room for improvement in how Metro-North and
LIRR monitor the hours their employees work,”DiNapoli said. “Federal
money came to New York state to help improve our transportation network
and we must be good stewards of those funds. The MTA should take a
harder look at wasteful spending and work to tighten up its operations.”
The Metro-North
audit
examined whether $72.3 million in ARRA funds were used efficiently and
for authorized purposes at four locations from April 30, 2009 through
June 30, 2012. Auditors examined whether employees were paid for only
the time they worked, whether overtime was pre-approved and justified
and whether the reasons for some of the overtime were sound.
DiNapoli’s auditors found that one of the timekeeping systems in
place at Metro North, Crew Management System, did not have a requirement
for conductors to sign out manually, so there was not an accurate
record of when conductors actually left the facility. In a review of the
10 highest overtime earners who worked a total of 183 hours of overtime
over 54 instances during the third quarter ended September 30, 2010,
there were no overtime requests to support pre-approval and
justification of 136 hours of overtime.
Auditors also questioned whether government funds were wasted by
paying conductors 2 hours and 40 minutes of overtime every day for tasks
such as changing clothes, traveling to and from project sites and
washing up for work. In addition, an unannounced floor check at the
Tarrytown Station found a conductor not at his station when a passenger
train came through.
DiNapoli recommended that Metro-North:
- Require conductors to electronically sign in and out;
- Monitor time and attendance records;
- Establish agency-wide policies and procedures that govern the use, pre-approval and justification for overtime;
- Monitor conductors to make sure they are on site and working at their assigned posts; and
- Ensure that the most efficient practices are being followed.
The LIRR
audit
reviewed whether $102.8 million spent on two ARRA projects during the
same time period as the Metro-North audit were properly monitored.
Auditors found that the LIRR did not efficiently manage the funds and as
a result, employees might have been paid for unnecessary overtime or
time that wasn’t worked.
Auditors found no pre-approval was given for the 110 instances of
overtime totaling 998 hours in September 2010. For certain employees,
LIRR did not have a system in place to verify time or attendance.
A review of three sampled track workers also found excessive
overtime. For example, on Sept. 12, 2010, a track foreman claimed 24
consecutive overtime hours, an assistant track supervisor claimed 20.5
consecutive overtime hours while another track foreman claimed 18.5
consecutive hours on the same day. This was repeated two weeks later
with 22.5, 18 and 19.5 hours of overtime claimed by the same employees.
LIRR officials noted the overtime was consistent with provisions of
existing collective bargaining agreements.
DiNapoli recommended that LIRR:
- Establish a process for approving and justifying overtime for certain workers:
- Monitor employees to ensure they are being paid for hours worked;
- Monitor hours worked consecutively without an off-duty rest
period to ensure efficient and safe work practices and customer safety;
and
- Implement a time keeping system to accurately record attendance
and improve communications between sectors to ensure that changes in
assignments are noted properly.
Metro-North and LIRR’s responses to the audits are included in the final audit.
