MTA clock ‘punchers’
6 devices damaged by ‘acts of sabotage’
At least six MTA fingerprintscanning time clocks have been vandalized as the agency tries to crack down on overtime abuse — with suspected saboteurs smashing screens and snipping wires, the MTA’s watchdog says.
The MTA inspector general made the announcements Thursday after two of the biometric timekeeping devices — used by workers to clock in and out — were discovered damaged in two days.
Thursday morning, officials found the screen of a timekeeping device smashed in at the agency’s subway and bus division headquarters in Downtown Brooklyn, the IG said.
The gizmo is on the ninth floor of the Livingston Street hub — which is accessible only to union officials and management employees, sources told The Post.
“It’s a restricted floor so only certain people have access to that floor,” a source said. “We are waiting right now for a list of people who come in and out.”
A supervisor used the machine to clock in at 6:10 a.m. but by 6:31 a.m. another employee noticed it was damaged, sources said.
Just a day earlier, transit officials also found “an adhesive substance” smudged on the fingerprint reader of a device in the Michael J. Quill bus depot on 11th Avenue in Manhattan, the IG said.
The MTA has been rolling out the high-tech timekeeping devices in recent months in response to allegations of overtime fraud across the agency. Much of the agency has been using archaic paper punch clocks that are prone to abuse.
As the rollout got underway in June, the cable on one machine was found cut at Jamaica Station. Another timekeeping device, at the 38th Street Brooklyn train yard, was also damaged.
The IG on Thursday revealed two more previously unknown incidents from July.
On July 12, the cables of another clock were snipped at the 14th
Street station in Manhattan in an “apparent act of vandalism,” according to the IG.
The week before, on July 3, staff at the Bronx Concourse rail yard discovered that the display screen of a machine had been “maliciously” shattered.
“Vandalizing these timekeeping clocks is not just a crime, it is an affront to riders and taxpayers,” Inspector General Carolyn Pokorny said. “New Yorkers must be wondering how the MTA can properly pay its workers at these facilities if the time clocks installed to track attendance have been damaged in such apparent acts of sabotage. We call on anyone with knowledge to contact our office immediately.”
The MTA vowed that “those responsible will be held accountable.”
The most recent incidents come amid tensions between MTA management and labor amid ongoing contract negotiations.
Union leaders have accused the MTA of unfairly painting the entire workforce as criminals over ballooning overtime, as the MTA tries to bring payroll costs under control.