IT’S HOURS!
STATE PROBING MEGA OT AT NEW BEDFORD BRIDGE
MassDOT has launched an investigation into “overtime practices” at a New Bedford bridge after the Herald reported a tender racked up $103,000 in OT last year.
The bridge operator was paid a total of $167,718 for all of 2020, records show. He declared working 2,344 hours of overtime at the New Bedford-Fairhaven Swing Bridge, MassDOT said Friday when pressed to explain the OT pay. That works out to an average of 45 overtime hours a week.
A MassDOT spokeswoman blamed the mega OT bill on “labor agreements” that “require that any available overtime shifts” are offered to MassDOT staff before private contractors.
But later Friday evening, a different MassDOT spokeswoman announced they are now investigating.
“MassDOT is conducting an investigation into overtime practices at the bridge and has ordered an immediate reduction in overtime for bridge operators requiring that no employee may work more than two consecutive shifts,” MassDOT’s Jacquelyn Goddard said in a statement.
She added there are six operators assigned to the bridge — one of two bridges across the Acushnet River connecting New Bedford to Fairhaven in the busy fishing port. Goddard added Maritime law requires two bridge operators to be on duty “at all times.”
Three other state employees listed as “bridge operators” earned $100,000 or close to it in 2020, with one declaring $65,000 in overtime. Where they all worked is not listed in payroll data obtained by the Herald.
Taxpayers, however, pick up the entire bill — with one fiscal watchdog saying overtime needs to be curbed by Gov. Charlie Baker.
“The state can’t afford this stuff. We can’t bond and borrow our way through these budgets,” said Paul Diego Craney, spokesman for the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. “That amount of overtime is so outrageous. It’s utter nonsense.”
He called the six-figure OT dug up by the Herald “an example of a system left unchecked.” Of the $103,000 overtime bill, he added: “How do you do that? How do you work all those hours?”
The bridge tender declined comment, through MassDOT.
The OT eye-opener comes as MassDOT Secretary Stephanie Pollack is heading to D.C. to work for President Biden’s Federal Highway Administration. She earned $170,405 last year, with no overtime.
She wasn’t the highest paid. Three MassDOT employees pulled down $223,850, $190,458 and $170,665, respectively. They were all top managers.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation payroll for 2020 also shows 928 employees earned $100,000 or more for the year.
Go to the “Your Tax Dollars at Work” payroll report at bostonherald.com for a complete list of state employee pay.