More than 300 employees of the city are doubling their annual salary by racking up overtime, according to a report.
Workers in the Department of Corrections make up nearly half of those people earning more in overtime than in base pay so far in 2017, according to public records available on See Through NY.
Top earners so far this year include:
- A correction officer who's made $373,900 so far this year; his annual salary is $82,000.
- An NYPD officer who's made $371,380 so far; his annual salary is $85,290.
- A corrections department engineer who's made $344,771 so far; his rate of pay is $556 on a daily basis.
- A teacher who's made $326,640 so far; his rate of pay is $98,450.
The Empire Center, which compiles the data, says the top overtime earner was the engineer for the DOC. A total of 153 employees were paid over $100,000 in overtime; among them, 96 worked for the Department of Correction, the Empire Center says.
Peter Thorne, a spokesman for the Department of Correction, says the department uses overtime "only in situations where it is absolutely necessary, such as for emergency repairs. We take the use of overtime seriously and the department has policies in place to address any nonessential overtime for both uniform and non-uniform staff."
A DOC official says the department monitors overtime daily through a conference call with all wardens, and now that hiring is up -- more than 1,000 officers were brought into the department in June -- overtime should go down in the next fiscal year.
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A message has also been left with the mayor's office.
Top earners on the city's dime in 2016 included an administrative engineer for the Department of Transportation who made $672,730 (annual salary $176,700); an NYPD officer who made $640,200 (annual salary $78,000); an NYPD captain who made $451,800 (annual salary $160,500); a warden for the Department of Corrections who made $445,490 (annual salary $191,770); and an engineer for the Department of Corrections who made $410,800 (daily rate of pay $566).
The non-profit, nonpartisan Empire Center compiles salaries of public employees on See Through NY, the state's only independent, comprehensive database of public spending records.
