New York Metropolis’s greatest time beyond regulation hogs for a second straight 12 months are largely rank-and-file employees liable for tackling the Large Apple’s $6 billion-plus migrant disaster, The Put up has realized.
Fifty-one of the 100 metropolis staff who racked up essentially the most OT through the fiscal 12 months ending June 30 work on the Departments of Social Companies and Homeless Companies, and their duties embody aiding migrants, an examination of metropolis payroll information reveals.
Every employee gathered at the least 1,851 hours in additional pay.
Main the best way was Kashwayne Burnett, a DSS bookkeeper who labored 3,303 hours of time beyond regulation within the company’s Manhattan workplace. That involves roughly 14 hours a day, seven days per week. The ten-year veteran’s $164,760 in time beyond regulation pay greater than tripled his $60,445 base wage.
Bardhan Pijush, a DSS caseworker, was second with 3,137 additional hours, adopted by Gavin McAuley, a DHS housekeeper who clocked 2,664 hours of OT.
Within the earlier fiscal 12 months, 47 staff at each departments have been among the many 100 who labored essentially the most OT, an enormous leap from fiscal 2022 when solely three employees made the listing.
The migrant disaster “has been a major drain” on all municipal assets, however the DSS and DHS’s time beyond regulation hours and payouts are “absolutely staggering,” Metropolis Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens) instructed The Put up.
“We simply can’t continue down this path,” he mentioned. “It has to end, and taxpayers are sick of it.”
DSS and DHS staffers have been particularly stretched skinny by the greater than 226,900 asylum seekers and different border crossers who’ve reached the Large Apple since April 2022 – and plenty of have seen their workloads soar due to it.
As of Friday town’s migrant-crisis tab was $6.5 billion, and 53,800 migrants have been nonetheless in metropolis care at taxpayer-funded shelters as of Dec. 15, metropolis officers mentioned.
Each companies in fiscal 2024 racked up a jaw-dropping 2,959,114 hours of time beyond regulation mixed, totaling greater than $139.4 million in payouts, information present.
That’s a staggering 67% enhance from the 1,770,634 time beyond regulation hours labored by DSS and DHS staffers in fiscal 2021, which predated the migrant disaster, whereas companies’ employees earnings for additional shifts have almost doubled since then, from $72.3 million.
It’s additionally a ten% enhance from fiscal 2023, when the companies’ employees mixed to rack up 2,690,659 further hours, totaling $123.1 million in time beyond regulation earnings.
New York taxpayers are nonetheless on the hook for selecting up the tab for the Biden administration’s border blunders, warned Ken Girardin, director of analysis for the nonprofit suppose tank Empire Middle for Public Coverage.
“The bill is still running — we’re going to see bills like this for at least another year,” he mentioned.
When requested in regards to the surge in OT to assist migrants, DSS spokesperson Neha Sharma mentioned the company is “extremely grateful” to its staffers who, “despite truly unprecedented challenges, have stepped up and worked long hours to provide necessary support for our newest arrivals and long-term New Yorkers in need.”
“It is because of our remarkable staff that the City of New York can continue to do more than any other level of government to support asylum seekers while providing robust services and support to vulnerable New Yorkers,” she mentioned.
Burnett and Pijush didn’t return messages. McAuley couldn’t be reached for remark.
