Long Island

Transportation

ny-lirrsalaries-sg

The <a href="/topics/Long_Island_Rail_Road">Long Island Rail Road</a> is projecting what officials call a "dramatic" reduction in overtime costs this year compared with last year, according to a report expected to be released Monday. 
The LIRR predicts it will have cut overtime costs by 14 percent by the end of the year as compared with 2009 - to $79 million this year from $92 million in 2009. 
The railroad also projects a 16 percent reduction in the number of overtime hours worked. Through July, LIRR employees worked 201,000 fewer overtime hours than during the same period last year. 
The latest overtime projection includes costs related to last month's switching system fire in <a href="/topics/Jamaica%2C_NY">Jamaica</a> and additional expenses resulting from recent staff and service cuts, an agency spokesman said. On Saturday, Newsday reported preliminary findings by the LIRR that the <a href="/topics/Jamaica%2C_NY">Jamaica</a> fire caused $1.1 million in labor and related costs such as overtime. 
"The Long Island Rail Road has been working aggressively to reduce its overtime costs," LIRR president <a href="/topics/Helena_Williams">Helena Williams</a> said Friday. "We've used a number of methods to tighten our own internal controls, our use of unscheduled overtime and scheduled overtime, and we've had some success in reducing those overtime costs." 
The projected reductions come amid increased scrutiny of LIRR overtime expenses. In August, State Comptroller <a href="/topics/Thomas_DiNapoli">Thomas DiNapoli</a> said in an audit that the LIRR had the highest overtime costs of any <a href="/topics/Metropolitan_Transportation_Authority">Metropolitan Transportation Authority</a> agency. DiNapoli also said last month he was conducting a forensic audit of <a href="/topics/MTA">MTA</a> overtime expenses. The <a href="/topics/MTA">MTA</a> is predicting a budget gap of around $900 million for its entire operation. 
LIRR officials attributed the overtime drop to an aggressive watchdog strategy. Among the tactics being used are better enforcement against unnecessary sick leave, adjustment of scheduled shifts to maximize productivity, and targeting of the highest overtime earners, who may be looking to increase the size of their pension benefits in their final years on the job, LIRR officials said. 
The LIRR also has focused on specific locations in each department where overtime is highest. 
LIRR officials attributed much of their success to the agency's overtime task force, created in 2008, which meets regularly to come up with strategies to bring down overtime costs and review progress. 
But Anthony Simon, general chairman of the United Transportation Union, the LIRR's largest union, said Sunday he was amazed the railroad was reporting any overtime savings in light of service cuts announced Sept. 13. The LIRR's transportation department has paid an average of 50 employees a day overtime to work on their days off, said Simon in a statement to Newsday. 
"They furloughed employees and created overtime! There is no disputing that fact," Simon added. 
An LIRR official who asked not to be identified acknowledged that overtime hours take time to settle down after scheduling changes. The agency, he said, factored that into its projection. 
Maureen Michaels, head of the LIRR Commuter Council, said Sunday she believed the LIRR was trying to do something about overtime costs. But she also was concerned about the effect of staff cuts on service. 
LIRR officials said overtime costs also were down in 2009, a 5.3 percent drop as compared with 2008.

LILIRR27

LIRR: 2010 overtime costs saw 'dramatic' reduction

LIRR

Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said Monday he'll conduct a forensic audit of <a href="/topics/Metropolitan_Transportation_Authority">Metropolitan Transportation Authority</a> overtime spending to search for criminal wrongdoing among the agency's employees. 
The audit will piggyback off one DiNapoli issued earlier this month that found MTA overtime costs increased 26 percent between 2005 and 2009, when the MTA paid $560 million in overtime. His investigators will look specifically for evidence of criminal fraud and wrongdoing, his office said. 
"Some of what we saw raised the question of whether this is a need to tighten our practices or whether there was wrongdoing going on," DiNapoli told Newsday. "Was this overtime in fact happening or did you have a case of wrongdoing or fraud?" 
DiNapoli said that if the forensic audit finds specific MTA employees defrauded the system to get paid overtime they did not work, he will refer the cases to the local district attorney or the attorney general's office. Three-quarters of overtime transactions in the initial audit lacked justification or came with undocumented work, DiNapoli said. 
"Overtime expense has been growing at the MTA," he said. "We think this is an area that the MTA will benefit from our continued oversight." 
The audit comes as the MTA struggles with a $900-million budget deficit and riders face service cuts and a 7.5 percent fare hike looming in January. 
DiNapoli's MTA audit of Aug. 5 found that the <a href="/topics/Long_Island_Rail_Road">Long Island Rail Road</a> dedicated a larger segment of its budget - 17 percent - to overtime than did <a href="/topics/New_York_City_Transit_Authority">New York City Transit</a>, Metro-North and the MTA Bridges &amp; Tunnels agency. 
That study concluded that in 2009 the four highest earners of overtime among the MTA's 7,100 workers - and 11 of the top 16 - came from the <a href="/topics/LIRR">LIRR</a>. 
And a September audit found lax oversight of MTA overtime, which included some low-level supervisors signing off on their own overtime. 
In May, MTA chairman Jay Walder announced plans to cut overtime by $60 million next year through a combination of better management controls and collective bargaining with unions, whose contracts and work rules regulate how overtime is paid. 
MTA spokesman Jeremy Soffin said the agency will cooperate with the audit. "We welcome the comptroller's assistance as we continue to fulfill our commitment to reduce overtime," he said. 
DiNapoli, appointed comptroller in 2007, faces Republican <a href="/topics/Harry_Wilson">Harry Wilson</a> of Scarsdale in his first run for statewide office in November.DiNapoli declined to say whether the forensic audit would be complete before Election Day.

Politics

PODINA31

DiNapoli auditing MTA overtime for criminality

The financially beleaguered <a href="/topics/MTA">MTA</a> has too often turned a blind eye to the skyrocketing costs of overtime in its transit agencies, including from its worst offender - the <a href="/topics/Long_Island_Rail_Road">Long Island Rail Road</a>, according to a state audit released Thursday. 
The report from the office of state Comptroller <a href="/topics/Thomas_DiNapoli">Thomas DiNapoli</a> found the <a href="/topics/LIRR">LIRR</a> sets aside a greater portion of its budget to cover overtime than any other MTA agency - $103 million. 
"The MTA is cutting services, raising fares and tolls, and laying off employees, but it should be doing more to control expenses," DiNapoli said Thursday. "When scores of employees are earning more in overtime than they make in salary, it's time for the MTA to change the culture of acceptance to a culture of accountability." And, DiNapoli said, MTA budget watchers don't seem concerned. 
MTA officials said that the report reinforces problems they have already made public and have taken "aggressive actions" to address. Overtime costs at the <a href="/topics/LIRR">LIRR</a> have fallen 15 percent this year, officials said. 
The <a href="/topics/LIRR">LIRR</a> budgeted 17 percent of its payroll in 2009 for overtime costs. That compares to 16.7 at MTA Bridges &amp; Tunnels, 14.7 percent at Metro-North Railroad and 9.1 percent at <a href="/topics/New_York_City_Transit_Authority">New York City Transit</a>. 
The report also found that, in 2009, the four highest earners of overtime among the MTA's 7,100 workers - and 11 of the top 16 - all came from the LIRR. 
&nbsp; 
LIRR blames work rules 
The LIRR has the highest share of overtime expenses, spokesman Sam Zambuto said, "because we have more onerous work rules built into our collective bargaining agreements than other MTA agencies." 
The audit found that 3,274 MTA employees last year earned overtime pay equaling at least half of their annual salary, including 147 who earned enough in overtime to double their salaries, or more. 
MTA's overtime costs climbed 26 percent between 2005 and 2009, when the MTA paid $560 million in overtime. 
Meanwhile, the report said, the MTA's central office accepted overtime budgets from agencies, including the LIRR, "without questioning them or making any effort to reduce overtime spending at constituent agencies." 
Auditors noted that, of 77 specific overtime payments sampled by auditors, they could find documented justification for just 18 payments. 
To get the increasing costs under control, DiNapoli made several recommendations, including that the MTA consider changing employee schedules, have extra employees available to offset absent ones and set specific overtime reduction goals. 
MTA chairman and chief executive Jay Walder announced in May plans to cut overtime by $60 million next year through a combination of better management controls and collective bargaining with unions, whose contracts and work rules regulate how overtime is paid. He acknowledged then that much of the MTA's overtime expenses were "unnecessary and can't be justified." 
&nbsp; 
MTA faces budget gap 
The MTA has struggled since last year to climb out of a $900-million budget hole, including through widespread service cuts, layoffs, and a 7.5 percent fare hike expected to take effect in January. 
"The comptroller's audit confirms what we reported earlier this year and reinforces the need for the aggressive actions we're taking to reduce unnecessary overtime," MTA spokesman Jeremy Soffin said. "We will do our part, but active participation from our labor unions is the only way to make the type of impact we all want." 
Anthony Simon, general chairman of the United Transportation Union - the LIRR's largest union - could not be reached for comment Thursday, but has said LIRR employees work overtime only when called upon to do so and that recent LIRR layoffs have only increased the need for overtime. 
Travis Proulx, spokesman for the State Senate majority <a href="/topics/U.S._Democratic_Party">Democrats</a>, who passed a $2.9-billion bailout of the MTA in May of last year, said the wasteful spending identified in DiNapoli's report has plagued the MTA for years. 
"This is a time when everybody has to tighten his belt, and that's a lesson that the MTA seemingly fails to learn time and again," Proulx said. "And we're going to remember that every time that they come to us with their hand out." 
Scott Reif, spokesman for the Senate <a href="/topics/U.S._Republican_Party">Republicans</a>, called it an "outrage" that the MTA would use the <a href="/topics/U.S._Democratic_Party">Democrat</a>-supported MTA payroll tax to fund wasteful overtime spending.

LIMTA06

State audit slams LIRR on skyrocketing overtime

Heaping overtime, payments stemming from union work rules and payouts of vacation and sick time for retiring workers added up to 22 percent of the money the <a href="/topics/Long_Island_Rail_Road">Long Island Rail Road</a> paid employees who worked a full year in 2009, an analysis of the LIRR payroll reveals. 
The analysis of payments to 5,600 full-time employees shows the troubling financial picture at the nation's largest commuter railroad. The LIRR already has approved widespread service cuts and layoffs to help plug the <a href="/topics/Metropolitan_Transportation_Authority">Metropolitan Transportation Authority</a>'s unprecedented $800-million deficit. 
Other findings include: 
27 percent of the 5,600 employees who worked a full year in 2009 earned more than $100,000. That's more than any other <a href="/topics/MTA">MTA</a> transit agency. 
Among LIRR employees earning more than $100,000, the average union employee was paid $121,000. The average non-union employee, including managers, made $113,000. 
139 LIRR employees doubled their salaries through extra payments, including overtime and so-called "penalties" for violations of union work rules. 
Of union employees earning more than $100,000, 59 percent of their total compensation was for pay above their base salaries. For all LIRR employees, that figure is 27 percent. 
The analysis was based on figures compiled from LIRR payroll information released Wednesday by the Albany-based Empire Center for New York State Policy, an arm of the nonprofit <a href="/topics/Manhattan_Institute">Manhattan Institute</a> for Policy Research. The figures include employees who were given one-time payments of sick days and vacation time as they retired. 
In a statement Thursday, LIRR officials said the agency "is working hard to reduce costs by making headcount and overtime reductions." 
"We are in a fiscal crisis and we need to make every dollar count," the statement said. 
<a href="/topics/MTA">MTA</a> officials have said they must bring down overtime and costs resulting from "outdated" and "cumbersome" union work rules. 
<a href="/topics/MTA">MTA</a> board member Mitchell Pally, of <a href="/topics/Stony_Brook%2C_NY">Stony Brook</a>, said all LIRR union contracts expire June 30, and language regarding work rules and overtime payments will have to be addressed by the agency. 
Anthony Simon, chairman of the United Transportation Union, which represents the LIRR's conductors, said that his colleagues work overtime when they are called to do so, and that the LIRR's recent and impending layoffs only serve to increase the overtime costs. 
Nearly half of the employees who doubled their salary with payments beyond base pay were from three job categories: 33 conductors, 16 engineers and 14 train-car repairmen. 
A conductor's base salary in 2009 was $75,389. But the average total earned by a conductor last year was $122,175 - 38 percent over base pay. 
Simon declined to discuss union work rules. 
<a href="/topics/MTA">MTA</a> Board Chairman Jay Walder and the board "have made clear" that issues such as workers earning double their salary in overtime and other payments need to be reviewed, Pally said. Contracts that govern payments beyond base pay were negotiated during less severe economic times, he noted. 
Gerry Bringmann, vice chairman of the <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> Railroad Commuter Council, said contracts negotiated by former <a href="/topics/MTA">MTA</a> managers are coming back to bite the agency. He called workers doubling their base salary with overtime "a shame" because it illustrates "a failure" of management. 
"You've got people making these kind of salaries but they're closing my ticket office next month," Bringmann said.

LILIRR04

Analysis reveals sources of big LIRR paydays

liCROSSROADSjcw

<a href="/topics/Long_Island_Rail_Road">Long Island Rail Road</a> riders interviewed Wednesday expressed various opinions - few of them positive - about salaries paid to <a href="/topics/Metropolitan_Transportation_Authority">Metropolitan Transportation Authority</a> workers. 
According to data published Wednesday by the Empire Center for New York State Policy, more than 8,000 MTA workers - more than 10 percent of the agency's workforce - made six figures in total yearly pay for a second consecutive year. 
Further, more than one in four of the LIRR's 7,046 employees earned more than $100,000 last year. 
MTA officials say overtime pension considerations are factors that drive up salary totals. 
The Albany-based Empire Center is an arm of the <a href="/topics/Manhattan_Institute">Manhattan Institute</a> for Policy Research. 
&nbsp; 
Long Islanders react 
"It's absurd," said Peter Clark, 53, of <a href="/topics/Roslyn%2C_NY">Roslyn</a>. "It's coming out of the MTA budget, and with <a href="/topics/Unemployment">unemployment</a> at double digits and the average salary out there between $65,000 to $75,000, these people are making double. They should hire more people instead of cutting back services. 
"Even Fortune 500 companies have policies to keep pension plans from going over. Its crazy," said Clark, who said he has been riding the rails for 25 years. 
&nbsp; 
Emma Green, 66, of <a href="/topics/Jamaica%2C_NY">Jamaica</a>, <a href="/topics/Queens%2C_NY">Queens</a>, who said she has been riding the LIRR for 15 years, called the size of salaries "ridiculous." 
"There are cuts in services and high fares. . . . It makes you think if anyone is padding the payroll," she said. 
&nbsp; 
"It's not the most efficient way in scheduling people," said Chris Lee, 33, of <a href="/topics/Manhasset%2C_NY">Manhasset</a>, referring to overtime costs. "There needs to be a check-and-balance system in place so that the people who get the overtime are not always the same people with seniority. 
"I want people to get comp [compensation] for their work, but there needs to be better management of scheduling hours," said Lee, who has been using the railroad to commute to the city for a year. 
&nbsp; 
Jessica Trujillo, 22, of <a href="/topics/Medford%2C_NY">Medford</a>, said, "I don't think they should pay all that money. Instead they should hire more people. There are plenty of people who are waiting for positions. The railroad should put them through job-training programs and give them jobs. 
Trujillo, a daily commuter, said her train to <a href="/topics/Ronkonkoma%2C_NY">Ronkonkoma</a> is usually packed and she sometimes stands for the full one-hour-and-10-minute ride there from Penn Station. 
"You can't get a seat. I feel like I'm riding the subway," she said. 
&nbsp; 
"I wish I had that job," Oscar Juarez, 50, of <a href="/topics/Lake_Ronkonkoma%2C_NY">Lake Ronkonkoma</a>, said as he ran for his train. "Even if I had to sweep up, I'd take that job." 
&nbsp; 
"It's outrageous even if it's legit. It's still a lot of money," said Mary Gould, 40, of <a href="/topics/Bayville%2C_NY">Bayville</a>. "It makes you wonder . . . with our fares increasing every six months, shutting down lines - it's impacting me and everyone else who rides the railroad." 
&nbsp; 
Donna DeSantis, 45, of <a href="/topics/Brentwood%2C_NY">Brentwood</a>, gasped softly at the annual salary amounts. 
"It's not responsible management, especially with the upping of railroad tickets," she said. 
DeSantis noted that her monthly railroad ticket has jumped from $180 a month to $306 a month over the last decade. 
"My pay has remained status quo, and I don't get overtime," she said, adding that she usually works 10 hours extra every week.

LIMUGS03

Riders sound off on MTA, LIRR salaries

Overtime, retirement payouts and other compensation helped boost the pay of some MTA dispatchers, engineers and train car mechanics to nearly $200,000 last year, and in a few cases even more, according to an Albany-based nonprofit research center. 
And more than one in four of the <a href="/topics/Long_Island_Rail_Road">Long Island Rail Road</a>'s 7,046 employees earned more than $100,000 last year, according to data published by the Empire Center for New York State Policy, an arm of the <a href="/topics/Manhattan_Institute">Manhattan Institute</a> for Policy Research. 
They were among more than 8,000 <a href="/topics/Metropolitan_Transportation_Authority">Metropolitan Transportation Authority</a> workers - more than 10 percent of the agency's workforce - who for a second consecutive year made six figures in total yearly pay, the center's analysis showed. The nonprofit published the data Wednesday on its website, SeeThroughNY.net. 
For instance, 11 railroad car mechanics earned an average of $167,342 in 2009, more than $100,000 over their annual base pay of $64,865. One <a href="/topics/Long_Island_Rail_Road">Long Island Rail Road</a> conductor, who retired last year, made more than $230,000. 
The research found that 23 <a href="/topics/LIRR">LIRR</a> gang foremen averaged $81,718 over their base pay of $82,249. 
MTA spokesman Jeremy Soffin cited overtime and pension considerations as factors in driving the salary totals. 
"There are certain cases where overtime is taken advantage of to rack up big numbers," Soffin said. "I would guess most of the high earners are in the window of pension calculation to inflate their pensions." 
Request yields records 
The payroll data was provided to Empire Center after the nonprofit filed requests under the state's open records law, he said. 
Salary totals in the nonprofit's data analysis did not distinguish between workers who retired in 2009 and workers who were active throughout the year. 
Workers who retired in 2009 received payouts for unused sick days and vacation time, which boosted their earnings, according to the <a href="/topics/LIRR">LIRR</a>. Some also received "penalty payments" specified under union contracts - cash paid to workers who were needed to work in a job different from their job classification. 
Lise Bang-Jensen, a spokeswoman for the Empire Center, acknowledged that retiring workers, whose pay could have been inflated by tens of thousands of dollars, were included with active workers. 
"It's still money going out the door," Bang-Jensen said. "And it's indicative of the type of contracts they negotiated." 
Anthony Simon, general chairman of the United Transportation Union, which represents many <a href="/topics/LIRR">LIRR</a> workers, including track workers, conductors and car repairmen, said his members are called in constantly for overtime - often seven days a week - because the <a href="/topics/LIRR">LIRR</a> has a shortage of employees. 
"My guys are called in to work and they work," Simon said. He added that many managers make $200,000 or more for a 40-hour workweek, but that is not publicized or the source of controversy. 
Costly union work rules were noted last month at an MTA briefing. One example cited then was a work rule that requires an <a href="/topics/LIRR">LIRR</a> engineer to get an extra day's pay if asked to operate both an electric train and a diesel in the same shift. Another was a MTA Bridges and Tunnels employee who doubled the size of his pension by loading up on overtime before retiring. 
MTA vows to tackle OT costs 
MTA officials vowed to rein in overtime costs. The agency spends $560 million each year on overtime. 
"Some of these numbers are pretty amazing; folks basically tripling their salaries," said <a href="/topics/William_Henderson">William Henderson</a>, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA. 
<a href="/topics/Gene_Russianoff">Gene Russianoff</a>, senior attorney for the <a href="/topics/Straphangers_Campaign">Straphangers Campaign</a>, a riders' advocacy group, said, "Clearly the MTA has to do better at managing overtime and padded pensions. The numbers are pretty astonishing." 
He said he doesn't know where the blame lies - both work rules and poor management play a role. "I generally believe them [MTA officials], that they are trying to deal with practices and management that has been in place for decades," he said. 
In a statement, the MTA said: "We are in the process of overhauling every aspect of our business, including the elimination of about 3,000 positions this year. One key part of this effort is a focus on the work rules, pension padding and management oversight that lead to some of the unnecessary overtime." 
With Bart Jones 
<h3>Some of <a href="/topics/LIRR">LIRR</a>'s top earners in 2009&nbsp;</h3> 
Tom Redmond 
Conductor, retired 
<ul> 
 <li>Straight time $67,772</li> 
</ul> 
<ul> 
 <li>Sick buyout $56,543</li> 
</ul> 
<ul> 
 <li>Vacation buyout $39,933</li> 
</ul> 
<ul> 
 <li>Overtime $67,061&nbsp;</li> 
</ul> 
<ul> 
 <li>Miscellaneous $2,193</li> 
</ul> 
<ul> 
 <li>Total $233,502</li> 
</ul> 
&nbsp; 
Monica Hunter 
Supervisor, crew dispatcher, active employee 
<ul> 
 <li>Straight time $93,268&nbsp;</li> 
</ul> 
<ul> 
 <li>Overtime $135,245&nbsp;</li> 
</ul> 
<ul> 
 <li>Total $228,513</li> 
</ul> 
&nbsp; 
Sue Clarson 
Locomotive engineer, retired 
<ul> 
 <li>Straight time $66,996&nbsp;</li> 
</ul> 
<ul> 
 <li>Sick buyout $37,260</li> 
</ul> 
<ul> 
 <li>Vacation buyout $38,647&nbsp;</li> 
</ul> 
<ul> 
 <li>Overtime $46,962</li> 
</ul> 
<ul> 
 <li>Penalty payments* $27,324</li> 
</ul> 
<ul> 
 <li>Total $217,189</li> 
</ul> 
&nbsp; 
*Work outside job description 
&nbsp; 
John Capelluto 
Conductor, retired 
<ul> 
 <li>Straight time $60,892&nbsp;</li> 
</ul> 
<ul> 
 <li>Sick time buyout $50,598</li> 
</ul> 
<ul> 
 <li>Vacation buyout $30,697</li> 
</ul> 
<ul> 
 <li>Overtime $44,482</li> 
</ul> 
<ul> 
 <li>Penalty payments $8,359</li> 
</ul> 
<ul> 
 <li>Total $195,028</li> 
</ul> 
&nbsp; 
Dominick Masiello Engineer, active employee 
<ul> 
 <li>Straight time $74,762&nbsp;</li> 
</ul> 
<ul> 
 <li>Overtime $52,729</li> 
</ul> 
<ul> 
 <li>Penalty payments $94,614</li> 
</ul> 
<ul> 
 <li>Total $222,105</li> 
</ul> 
&nbsp;

LIMTA03

Report: Some MTA workers made nearly $200G last year

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