New York City’s overtime bill reached $1 million in the last six months of 2021, an increase of 62% compared to the previous year, warned the state comptroller, Tom DiNapoli.
Coincidentally, yesterday announced the layoff of 18 City Housing Authority (NYCHA) employees because they were caught lying about their hours of extra work, uploading non-work days into the system.
Speaking at a virtual meeting of the business group “Association for a Better New York” (ABNY), DiNapoli pointed out the increase of $385 million dollars in budget impact.
“During the height of the pandemic (…) hiring was frozen for many positions. However, since the middle of 2021 there has been an increase” in overtime spending, DiNapoli said. “The downsizing compounded by COVID-related absences led to the city’s overtime exceeding $1 billion.”
Most of the total overtime count (83%) went to employees of the police, fire, corrections and health departments, according to the report. All four agencies face “significant risk of overtime,” DiNapoli told business leaders.
The drop in the number of city employees offsets eight years of growth in the workforce, mainly in the NYPD and the Department of Education, according to the report.
The drop has been more significant among specific titles among agents of school security, whose ranks fell 19% of June 2020 to November 2021, and prison officers, whose number was reduced 12%. Other positions whose numbers plummeted included teaching assistants, managers and administrative support, commented New York Post.
The downsizing gives new Mayor Eric Adams a head start on his goal of reducing agency budgets by at least 3%, Comptroller DiNapoli told business leaders, but the city could face significant challenges as until federal COVID relief is exhausted-19.
In the case reported in NYCHA, an investigation revealed that 70 employees and 12 supervisors were involved. Eighteen people have already been fired and another four have been demoted, reported NY1 Noticias.
In another emblematic case, in May it was reported that although the Authority Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) of New York has been in a deficit for years that has worsened dramatically with the pandemic, it paid almost $70 thousand dollars for error to one of her desk workers for “overtime” (OT) and transfers, and she did not have to repay that amount.
- Employee had sex at work, while charging overtime to the New York Subway
- Metro and MTA bus employees abuse days off: they take 54 a year on average , most with salary
- New York Subway Supervisors Earn More Than Their President; overtime payments exceed fare hike
- Former “disabled” driver swindled thousands of dollars from the Metro de New York, while working in other states