Watchdog report: LIRR sometimes softened penalties in discipline cases

Long Island Rail Road management did not follow through with agreed-upon punishments for several disciplined workers, collecting the wrong amount of levied fines, allowing employees to return to work before suspensions had been fully served and restructuring punishments in a way that allowed employees to recoup some of their lost wages by working on their days off, according to an MTA watchdog report obtained exclusively by Newsday.

Officials with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority — the LIRR’s parent organization — responded to the report from the office of MTA Inspector General Daniel Cort by saying  they would work to "strengthen" disciplinary protocols.

Investigators from Cort’s office looked at more than 450 LIRR disciplinary cases over an 18-month period in 2024 and 2025 involving workers who agreed to accept fines or suspensions, rather than risk facing more severe sanctions after an internal disciplinary trial.

The probe found "agreed-upon penalties for 21 employees were not carried out as written." Among fines levied to 173 employees for various infractions, 16 "did not reflect the terms" in agreed-upon settlements. In some cases, LIRR managers deducted less than they should have from workers’ pay; in other cases, they deducted too much.

Among 155 employees who accepted suspensions, five "did not serve their suspensions as planned," according to the report. LIRR managers allowed a pair of suspended employees to return to work a day before their suspensions were fully served, without notifying the railroad’s labor relations office, which signs off on disciplinary settlements.

In other cases, managers — seeking to comply with union rules — converted disciplinary periods from calendar days to work days, which allowed workers to lessen the impact of sanctions, according to the report.

Converting a seven-day fine of 25% of wages from calendar days to work days would allow employees to come in on their days off, work overtime and recoup some of their lost pay, the report noted.

Recouping lost pay

Although the number of discrepancies found made up a relatively small percentage of the disciplinary cases investigators reviewed, the report said for the railroad's disciplinary process to be fully effective, "employees and managers must be confident that agreed-upon discipline will be carried out correctly every time."

Investigators also chided the railroad for poor record keeping and communication when it came to disciplinary procedures, which made it difficult to verify if some punishments were ever appropriately meted out. 

"Discipline is most effective when penalties are carried out as intended and reliably verified," Cort said in a statement. "Our audit found weaknesses that increased the risk of errors and made it difficult to confirm whether discipline was imposed correctly."

Asked for comment, MTA officials referred to their official responses in the report, in which they accepted all of the recommendations from the inspector general's office on how to improve disciplinary procedures, including by formalizing a process to make changes to any agreed-upon sanctions.

In a statement, MTA spokesman Lucas Bejarano said the LIRR is “fully committed to upholding the MTA code of ethics and is dedicated to ensuring that all disciplinary actions are administered accurately, consistently and in full compliance with collective bargaining agreements and federal regulations.”

Plans to do better

The MTA also vowed to strengthen its process of levying fines by "memorializing the existing procedures in a written document to verify and document when fines have been fully and correctly implemented," according to the report.

Cort's office did not specify the infractions that led to disciplinary measures, other than to say that they do not include infractions that carry mandatory punishments, including employee absences and drug and alcohol abuse. 

"We appreciate LIRR’s commitment to strengthening its oversight," Cort said.

The report comes one year after Cort's office issued the findings of a three-year investigation that led to 36 LIRR workers being disciplined for their roles in a scheme involving employee ID cards being cloned and distributed. Investigators said employees kept the duplicated ID cards at LIRR facilities to scan at time clocks and cover for each other's absences.

Most of the workers implicated in that probe accepted suspensions, demotions and wage forfeitures. Some retired or resigned before they could receive disciplinary sanctions. Three were fired after going through disciplinary trials.

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.