DiNapoli: MTA workers took taxpayers for a ride

Six MTA Metro-North employees spent their working hours trolling the Internet for information on guns and Chuck E. Cheese restaurants instead of monitoring train safety, according to an audit of the railroad's on-board service unit released by the state comptroller on Friday.

"The public got taken for a ride," said comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. "When workers in this unit did bother to show up for their jobs, they did shoddy work or personal tasks when they should have been ensuring that trains were operating safely and smoothly."

The $832,000-a-year unit was disbanded on June 1 and its members were reassigned to other Metro-North jobs, said Howard Permut, president of MTA Metro-North. Oversight of safety and performance work was shifted to another MTA division and will be handled by fewer workers.

"We take these audit findings very seriously and are working to address them both," Permut said in a May 23 letter to MTA chairman Joseph Lhota.

In addition, investigators say the assistant vice president in charge of the unit helped get her domestic partner hired at a salary of $84,700 -- nearly $30,000 more than the posted salary -- even though two other applicants received higher ratings.

State auditors examined 300 rides that were supposed to be monitored for safety and performance between January 2009 and July 2011. For nearly 30 percent of the rides, there were no logs to suggest that any work was done. For 14 percent of the rides, the workers were a no show.

One worker falsified a log by claiming he boarded train 1439 in Rye even though the train never stopped there, the report said.

Instead, when they were supposed to be monitoring safety or checking that fares were paid, members of the six-person unit -- including four who make more than $170,000 annually - were on the Internet or making non-work related calls on company-issued cell phones, according to the report.

The report comes one week after a Yonkers resident posted a video on YouTube showing a Metro-North engineer reading the newspaper and sending text messages while his Harlem line train sped into Grand Central Terminal during the morning rush.

The engineer was suspended without pay after the video surfaced.

None of the 211 logs examined by investigators found any significant performance or safety issues, an indication that the unit failed to fulfill the role of safety watchdog that led to the unit's creation in 2004.

"The unit reported no issues or problems with any portion of Metro-North service anywhere along the lines monitored for an extended period -- an assessment that raises serious questions about the quality of oversight provided by the unit," the report says.

The audit showed that employees spent their work time online, checking Facebook and doing online shopping and banking. On May 18, 2011 one employee spent 6.5 hours on firearms sites and Google. Another spent five hours looking at sites that included Chuck E. Cheese, a popular spot for childrens' birthday parties.

Reviews of cellphone usage found little communication between staff members and their supervisor but did find out-of-state calls and calls home.

And staffers who were supposed to take six train trips per day averaged only four, the report added.

"We found clear evidence that the On-Board Services unit staff failed to do their job of supervising train crews and the unit's supervisor failed to supervise unit staff," the report added.'

Auditors recommended that:

- The MTA investigate time and attendance of the unit supervisor and staff, take disciplinary action and steps to recover funds paid for time not worked and ensure that any salary overpayment is taken into account for future pension payouts.

- Evaluate the necessity of staffing for the unit, considering its demonstrated lack of productivity and effectiveness to date.

- Re-examine whether the assistant vice president's relative should be transferred to a different work unit.

"The MTA needs to do more to tighten up accountability," DiNapoli said. "I am pleased that this audit brought an end to this situation."

The state Office of the Inspector General will investigate whether the assistant vice president, Sherry Herrington, violated state ethics rules by helping her domestic partner, Stuart Moore, land the MTA job.

Moore resigned from the MTA this month after the railroad received a draft report of the findings, an MTA spokeswoman confirmed. Herrington remains an assistant vice president.

"I have no comment," she told Newsday.

Neither Herrington, 54, nor Moore, 53, were identified in the report. Their identities were confirmed by the MTA.

The comptroller's report says Herrington sent human resources workers an email touting Moore's credentials even before the application process started in July 2008.

"During the hiring process, neither the applicant nor the assistant vice president disclosed that they were relatives," the report says.

During a random field check of the unit, investigators found the partner in an office rather than riding the rails as her job required.

Metro-North investigated Herrington in 2009 and reprimanded her, the report says. But Metro-North denied that the partner was given preferential treatment.

However, it admitted to investigators that at least one member of the three-member panel who reviewed applicants for the job was aware of their relationship, the report says.

The railroad has refused to turn the findings of its internal probe to the state comptroller, citing employee confidentiality.

"Metro-North has and will continue to cooperate fully with the OIG on these matters and will take appropriate action when these reviews are complete," the MTA said in a statement.

With Jillian Sederholm