Inspector General: MTA overtime rarely confirmed, always approved

According to a report by the Office of the Inspector General, when it comes to overtime at the MTA, apparently anything goes.

The OIG’s report identified “systemic weaknesses in how the MTA tracks overtime on all of its entities,” and found that the MTA has no electronic way to track hours worked, including overtime. Timecards are still done by hand and overtime is rarely confirmed, but always approved by a supervisor.  

“OIG found that the absence of a proper system to verify employees’ time and attendance for overtime hours could create opportunities for employees to claim overtime that was not worked or even assigned to them without being detected,” the OIG said in a statement. 

The report also found that, in 2018, the MTA spent $1.38B in overtime with no way to verify if it was actually worked. 

In a statement, the MTA said: “The MTA overtime task force is reviewing process and accountability across all agencies to ensure that the employees are appropriately assigned overtime, and paid for hours actually worked.”