Twenty-three New York State employees collected over $200,000 each in overtime, according to 2024 payroll data posted today on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s government transparency website.
Nineteen of the 23 were employed by the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS), the agency roiled by correction officer strikes, staff shortages and inmate deaths.
The data covers a period before illegal strikes erupted in February 2025 and the state fired more than 2,000 correction officers.
Throughout the state payroll, the number of six-figure overtime earners rose to 610, up nearly 40 percent from 439 in 2023. More than half (332) of them were from DOCCS, almost doubling the previous year’s tally of 173. In addition, the Office of Mental Health had 111 employees that collected more than six figures in overtime pay.
The top overtime recipient was Jeffrey Rorick, a corrections lieutenant at Five Points Correctional Facility, who collected $277,549 in overtime for a total pay of $405,424. Some of the other overtime leaders were:
- Denise Williams (Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center), who collected $267,686 in overtime for a total pay of $368,644
- Annu Bosco Varghese (Creedmoor Psychiatric Center), $259,055 in overtime for a total pay of $368,272
- William Atwood Jr. (Elmira Correctional Facility), $256,556 in overtime for a total pay of $379,092
Total overtime pay rose 11% year-to-year, climbing to $1.35 billion in 2024 from $1.21 billion in 2023 – undoing progress made since 2022 when overtime levels reached an all-time high of $1.4 billion. The state paid out an average of $12,733 in overtime to 105,947 employees. Of those, 7,319 collected more in overtime than their annual salary, enabling some to quadruple their total pay.
The data shows New York’s state government payroll last year swelled from $19.4 billion to $21.0 billion (8 percent), averaging $71,288 for its 294,131 employees. The figures do not reflect the cost of state benefits, including health care and state retirement, or employer payroll taxes.
New York State Government Payroll
Last week, the Empire Center released its 2024 edition of What They Make – the annual report on New York’s local government payrolls covering employees in county, city, town, and village governments outside New York City.
Since 2008, Empire Center has made the payrolls and pensions for state and local government and school districts available and searchable on SeeThroughNY.
SUNY leads the pack
The increase in payroll was primarily driven by SUNY payroll which had the highest share (25%) among all state agencies. SUNY’s payroll rose by 12% to $5 billion for its 70,000+ employees, including overtime payouts totaling $108 million.
Among the major agencies, DOCCS saw the steepest rise in overtime pay to $462 million, rising by almost one-third since 2023. The agency paid out nearly one-fifth of its total payroll ($2.4 billion) in overtime.
The State Police had the highest average pay of $123,627 for its 6,785 employees. The agency saw a 17% rise in overtime pay to $109 million. The three other agencies that had six-figure average pay were the Council on the Arts ($106,078 for 32 employees), the Financial Control Board ($104,719 for 12 employees), and the Department of Financial Services ($101,224 for 1,513 employees).
Agency Distribution
Newly Minted State Government Millionaires
The 2024 data revealed 2 new income millionaires – the first time, since Empire Center started collecting data since 2008, that state government employees have collected more than $1 million without including lump-sum payouts. The highest amount went to Robert Corona, CEO of Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, who collected $1.03 million. John King, the SUNY chancellor, collected a total pay of $1.01 million.
A total of 1,794 employees were paid more than Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $250,000 salary.
One in four employees collected six-figure pay, rising 17% to 78,690. Ninety-seven collected over $500,000.
Ninety-four of the top 100 payees were employed by the SUNY system, which included 36 from Downstate Medical Center, 21 from SUNY Stony Brook and 10 from Stony Brook Hospital.
In addition to the C-suite executives and senior medical staff, the top earners also included four football and basketball coaches from various SUNY campuses. Pete Lembo, SUNY Buffalo’s head football coach, who oversaw the most successful debut season for a UB head coach in 2024, was the highest earning coach, collecting $673,846.
Top 100 Highest Paid NYS Employees
The Empire Center, based in Albany, is an independent, not-for-profit, non-partisan think tank dedicated to promoting policies that can make New York a better place to live, work and raise a family.
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