MTA payroll tops $8B as 629 workers made more than $100,000 in overtime last year, report says

More than 600 MTA employees last year made $100,000 or more in overtime — more than 40% of whom work for the Long Island Rail Road, according to a new report.

The recently released report by the Empire Center for Public Policy, an Albany-based conservative think tank, revealed 259 of the 629 Metropolitan Transportation Authority employees who earned six figures in overtime last year worked for the LIRR, more than any other MTA agency. As of December, the MTA employed 71,938 people.

New York City Transit, which encompasses the MTA’s subway and bus systems, had the next most six-figure overtime earners at 146.

Overtime decreased slightly from its record high in 2023, but the MTA’s total payroll increased 2.6% in 2024, topping $8 billion, according to the report.

In a statement, Jai Patel, the MTA's co-chief financial officer, noted the MTA reduced overall operating costs by $400 million last year, including by "cutting total overtime costs and keeping payroll growth below both inflation and general wage increases required under collective bargaining contracts."

"The MTA continues to be vigilant when it comes to controlling costs and operating efficiently and is on track to increase savings to $500 million annually, while continuing to enhance service," Patel said.

While the number of six-figure overtime earners at the MTA fell around 14% from the previous year — there were over 700 in 2023 — the numbers still point to outdated union work rules that can significantly pad workers’ pay, said Cam Macdonald, general counsel for the Empire Center. "If you need somebody to work an hour, they might automatically get four or eight," Macdonald said.

In a statement, Anthony Simon, who heads the LIRR's largest union, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, said his organization's members work extra hours, often in severe weather, "to provide the service and projects promised to riders."

"We make no apologies," Simon said.

The average pay for an MTA employee was $98,892 in 2024, according to the report. Among different MTA agencies, Bridges & Tunnels workers earned the highest average wages at $123,617, followed by LIRR workers at $121,646 and MTA Police at $119,371.

Twenty-three MTA workers earned $200,000 or more in overtime in 2024, 10 more than in 2023, according to the report. The report said the MTA spent $1.3 billion in overtime last year, a slight decrease over the previous year. In its own financial report earlier this year, the MTA said it spent $1.4 billion in overtime, down 0.5% from the record-setting $1.41 billion in 2023.

The MTA, in documents, has attributed its 2024 overtime costs to several factors, including having to backfill vacant positions and higher spending on MTA Police for "direct patrol and fare evasion policing."

The LIRR spent about $207 million in overtime last year, with the average employee making $25,857 in overtime. That’s below only MTA Bridges & Tunnels, where the average workers made $28,528 in overtime, according to the Empire Center. Bridges & Tunnels employees have increasingly been tasked with addressing toll evasion, which costs the MTA about $50 million a year. Newsday reported this month that despite crackdown efforts, toll evasion remained largely unchanged last year.

Of the MTA’s top-10 overtime earners last year, none came from the LIRR. A Bridges & Tunnels lieutenant earned the most overtime last year — $308,821. He made $505,147 in total pay, more than tripling his base salary of $151,790, and was the highest-paid MTA employee in 2024, earning more than MTA chairman and CEO Janno Lieber, who made $420,599 last year.

The Empire Center’s annual MTA payroll report has closely tracked overtime spending at the transit agency for years and, in 2019, triggered several investigations by law enforcement into wage fraud among workers. Five former MTA employees were convicted on various charges relating to them lying about their work hours. That same year, the MTA instituted several reforms aimed at reducing overtime costs and rooting out wage fraud in the company.

The reforms included the installation of a $37 million biometric time clock system that requires employees to scan their fingers to record the beginning and end of their work days. The MTA suspended the finger-scanning requirement months later out of sanitary concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Following multiple allegations of LIRR employees gaming the time clock system — including through the use of counterfeit time cards — the MTA reinstated the finger-scanning requirement in September.