Metro-North overtime was up 10 percent in 2015, according to figures from the Empire Center for Public Policy.
The Albany-based think tank found the railroad spent $105.3 million in overtime last year, an average of $13,966 per employee.
In total, overtime spending for the entire Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) — which runs Metro-North, the Long Island Railroad, the New York City subway system, several of the city’s bridges and tunnels, its buses and a police force — rose 11 percent, totaling $876 million.
In comparison to the MTA’s other operating subsidiaries, Metro-North’s overtime growth was modest. Employees at Metro-North headquarters earned $3.7 million in overtime in 2015, up 179 percent from 2014. Overtime on the Long Island Railroad grew by 23 percent to $150 million, while bridge and tunnel employees’ overtime shot up 19 percent to $21.9 million and police 15 percent to $21.2 million.
The Empire Center also published a list of the top 50 highest-paid MTA employees in 2015. Of those 50, half were Metro-North employees, including four of the top five.
Donald Pritchett, a model surfacing instructor for the railroad, was the authority’s highest-paid employee at $399,006, followed by Robert O’Connell, a Metro-North track supervisor, who earned $355,754 last year. Harry Dobson, supervisor of structures andGrand Central Terminal, was paid $352,480 last year.
All three made more than MTA Chairman and CEO Thomas Prendergast, whose 2015 pay came to $346,706, and Metro-North President Joseph Giulietti, who was paid $338,692.
© 2016 The Journal News
You may also like
Faced with $10B deficit, MTA says it’s eyeing cutting overtime spending
Alfonso Castillo
The financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is adding urgency to the agency’s efforts to curtail overtime numbers that critics say remain alarmingly high.
The MTA said at Wed Read More
EDITORIAL: End the LIRR gravy train
The MTA's accountability and time management issues differ with each branch. At New York City Transit, there are questions about whether all employees work their full shifts. Because of the size of those operations, that's where more taxpayer and rider dollars are. At the LIRR, which is governed by the Federal Railway Labor Act, a lack of modern record keeping allows overtime abuses. A report by the Empire Center watchdog organization showed some stunning examples. Read More
EDITORIAL: OFF THE RAIL$ (RAILS) Behind the Tough Talk
Notably, the OT surge was highest at the Long Island Rail Road, up 30 percent last year and more than double the 2013 level, the Empire Center reports. And The Post has highlighted some hard-to-swallow extreme LIRR cases, with one guy working the equivalent of 16 hours a day for the whole year. Read More
EDITORIAL: Here’s how the LIRR union contracts send overtime soaring
The LIRR racked up $225 million in OT last year, according to the Empire Center — consuming nearly a third of the $740 million in fares Long Island commuters pay. Put another way, without this burden, the average commuter riding from Huntington to Penn Station every day could pay $253, not $363. Read More
MTA To Investigate Reports Of $400M In Employees’ Overtime Pay
Despite a year fraught with delayed, canceled and stalled trains, as well as the seventh fare hike in less than a decade, a new study released by Empire Center found that MTA’s overtime rose by nearly 16 percent last year. Read More
77 LIRR Employees Made More Than $250K Last Year
The number of LIRR employees who made more than $250,000 increased by nearly 50 percent from 2017 to 2018, according to payroll data found on the Empire Center for Public Policy's transparency website, SeeThroughNY.net. Read More
EDITORIAL: Fix New York state’s overtime and pension abuses
New Yorkers were shocked by the recent revelation by the Empire Center for Public Policy that Long Island Rail Road Chief Measurement Operator Thomas Caputo received more than $344,000 in overtime payments last year, bringing his total salary to more than $460,000. Equally alarming is that this outlandish number will become the basis upon which his pension payment is calculated, which is expected to exceed $162,000 a year. Read More
EDITORIAL: Baby steps toward ending the LIRR’s overtime abuse
Wise moves. Following a recent Empire Center report, The Post has spotlighted outrageous MTA overtime abuse, particularly at the LIRR, where one worker pulled in nearly a half-million bucks in 2018, thanks to 3,864 OT hours. Logging 4,157 extra hours, another boosted his pay nearly sixfold. Read More