Supervisors and workers in a signal construction unit at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Metro-North Hudson and Harlem commuter train lines have manipulated the payroll system by abusing overtime rules that inflate their salaries and pensions, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said
“MTA management has tolerated a manipulation of the system by both supervisors and workers who have enjoyed the perks of having a daytime shift for jobs that need to be done at nights and on weekends,” DiNapoli said.
In one 30-member unit at Metro-North in 2010, according to the comptroller, more than $1 million was paid out for overtime and rest shifts he considered avoidable. “There’s no place for this type of abuse in New York and it must stop,” DiNapoli said.
Auditors, he added, discovered a pattern of high overtime payments at the Metro-North signal construction unit that was attributable to a long-standing practice of shift manipulation. The report charged that supervisors boosted employee incomes and pensions by regularly assigning overtime work to be done at night by workers whose normal scheduled shift was during the daytime.
These extra overtime shifts in turn triggered a requirement, governed by the federal hours of service statute, that they rest — at full pay — during their next day’s shift.
DiNapoli’s auditors calculated that the shift manipulation for 28 of the 30 employees in the unit cost Metro-North $991,208 in overtime and $216,128 in pay for rest shifts in 2010. For six of the employees, the additional payments inflated future projected pension benefits by $5.5 million. One worker was able to increase his projected total pension amount by $1.5 million above what would have been earned at his regular salary, according to the audit.
MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said in response: “Metro-North continues to focus on reducing overtime costs across our organization, and we appreciate the assistance of the comptroller in this effort. We will also seek to negotiate with labor to change contractual provisions that limit our ability to schedule manpower most effectively between daytime vs. overnight shifts.”
Donovan added: “With regard to allegations of inappropriate payments to individuals, Metro-North is cooperating with the MTA [inspector general]. Metro-North also is working with the MTA audit department to improve payroll controls. Metro-North took steps last summer to ensure that signal supervisors no longer sign their own timecards.”
The MTA has come under fire for its escalating debt. A report DiNapoli issued in September said that if financing proposals are approved for the 2010-2014 program, the authority’s annual debt service could reach $3.3 billion by 2018 — 64% more than in 2011. In addition, Moody’s Investors Service said the MTA faces a “challenging environment” while managing its capital plan.
The MTA’s transportation revenue bonds are rated A2 by Moody’s, and A by Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s.
Former New York City deputy mayor Joseph Lhota’s appointment as MTA chairman to succeed Jay Walder is pending state Senate approval. The authority’s committees, including finance, will meet on Monday and the full board will meet on Wednesday.
