State pays 11 $100G in OT

ALBANY — New York’s new overtime king is one of a record 11 state government workers who earned a whopping six figures in extra pay in 2013, newly released data shows.

James Weeks, a guard at upstate Coxsackie Correctional Facility, made a hefty $118,963 in OT last year, according to figures provided Friday by state Controller Thomas DiNapoli’s office.

Coupled with his regular $90,243 salary, Weeks was paid a total of $209,206, compared to the $179,000 Gov. Cuomo makes.

The records show Weeks worked more than 3,000 extra hours last year — an incredible average of 59 hours a week, a total he denied when contacted by the Daily News Friday.

Weeks was not alone in raking it in.

Robert Henry, who earns $68,312 as a treatment assistant at Mid Hudson Psychiatric Center was runner-up in 2013 with $115,934 in OT.

He has now pocketed more than $1.3 million in overtime the past 15 years. Henry said he works lots of hours “because it’s my calling.”

“I love my job now more than ever before because it gives me the opportunity to do public service,” he said. “I’ve been blessed in so many ways and this is my opportunity to give back.”

Only five state employees made six figures in extra pay in 2012.

“Overtime is becoming a costly habit for New York State,” DiNapoli said.

His office did not have the total overtime paid out by the state last year, but in November said it was on pace to hit a record $600 million.

All 20 of the top overtime earners last year made more in OT than their regular salaries. None of the 20 made less than $95,000 in overtime.

Most work either in prisons, mental hospitals or facilities for the developmentally disabled, all of which require around-theclock staffing.

Stephen Madarasz, spokesman for the CSEA public employees’ union, said the overtime results from a “perverse” policy by the governor’s budget office — which understaffs facilities to avoid hiring new employees and instead pays copious amounts of overtime to fill the void.