In November, MTA Inspector General Carolyn Pokorny pledged to rigorously monitor overtime efforts at the MTA, and apprise the public of our findings on a quarterly basis, to ensure that MTA agencies meaningfully rein in overtime spending and safeguard against waste, fraud, and abuse by fully deploying biometric timekeeping clocks. Today, Inspector General Pokorny released the report for the 4th Quarter of 2019, with additional updates on developments that have occurred between December 31, 2019 and the publishing of this report.
“The riders and taxpayers deserve to know how the MTA’s overtime reforms are going” said MTA Inspector General Carolyn Pokorny. “Honesty and transparency are key to developing public trust and confidence in our transportation system.”
Among other findings, the OIG noted that despite significant efforts to modernize timekeeping at the MTA, active usage of biometric clocks fell approximately 15%—or 8,000 employees—short of the organization’s self-imposed commitment to have 99% active usage by January 15, 2020.
As all the agencies continue their myriad efforts to install time clocks and enforce compliance, OIG will direct its resources to assess higher-risk mobile populations across the MTA and management’s oversight of their active biometric timekeeping clockusage. This enhanced focus will allow OIG to provide the public with a keener insight into the overall risk the agency faces.
During the first quarter of this year, the OIG will continue to monitor biometric timekeeping clock usage by mobile employee populations across the MTA as well as the Overtime Task Force’s efforts to have managers use biometric timekeeping clockseffectively as a timekeeping tool. In addition, we will monitor the implementation of the 3 recommendations from the Morrison & Foerster overtime report due before the end of April.
The OIG’s report, including findings and recommendations, could be found here.
