Top 10 overtime earners work equivalent of another full-time job A Metro construction inspector made $32,089.52 in overtime in the first two months of this year, according to Metro figures, working the equivalent of 16 hours every single day, including weekends and holidays.
| Top 10 overtime hours |
| Metro employees typically worked about 277.5 hours during the two-month period of data Metro provided, but the following workers earned the most in regular overtime in addition to their regular pay during that time. |
| 1. Construction inspector: 553.5 overtime hours, $32,090 extra |
| 2. Mechanic: 412 overtime hours, $16,217 extra |
| 3. Construction inspector: 367 overtime hours, $21,277 extra |
| 4. Track work supervisor: 362.25 overtime hours, $19,410 extra |
| 5. Track work supervisor: 342 overtime hours, $17,980 extra |
| 6. Track work supervisor: 330 overtime hours; $17,009 extra |
| 7. Special police: 324.75 overtime hours, $10,710 extra |
| 8. Construction inspector: 314.5 overtime hours, $17,702 extra |
| 9. Construction inspector: 310.5 overtime hours, $17,874 extra |
| 10. Track work supervisor: 309.5 overtime hours, $17,369 extra |
The inspector, who makes an annual base salary of $75,368, worked twice as much overtime as he logged in regular hours during that time.
He was just one of several Metro employees racking up five-figure overtime payouts in January and February, even as the transit agency struggled to close a huge budget gap.
At least nine other workers also worked 40 or more overtime hours per week on average, according to data the agency provided under a public information request. That’s the equivalent of a second full-time job.
Four of the top 10 overtime workers are construction inspectors, four are supervisors over track work, one is a mechanic responsible for checking electrical power in the Metrorail system, and the last is a cop. The agency declined to release the workers’ names, saying doing so violated its personnel rules.
These long extra hours come as Metro piles up overtime costs as it takes on major track rehabilitation and makes up for a shortage of bus drivers, train operators and station managers. As The Washington Examiner first reported in March, the agency had already blown through its entire $48 million overtime budget after the first seven months of its fiscal year.
Matt Bassett, chairman of the Tri-State Oversight Committee that oversees Metro, was surprised by the high rates of overtime and said they raise questions about safety.
“In general, we want them to be staffing the system with sufficient workers so that they don’t have to rely too heavily on overtime for any particular position to allow for appropriate rest and time off,” Bassett said.
His independent group has focused primarily on the working hours of Metro’s train operators, making sure they get enough rest in between shifts. But he said his committee would now be interested in looking into whether employees who maintain the system are working excessive overtime.
Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said the agency is filling vacancies and hiring more employees. But in the meantime, staffing shortfalls means extra cash and long days for some workers.
“We are ramping up the largest capital improvement program since Metrorail’s original construction,” she said in an email. “Employees are working days, nights, weekends and holidays on equipment and infrastructure that is being rehabilitated to support a safer, more reliable system.”
The inspector who worked the most time-and-a-half overtime makes $38.65 an hour for his normal workload, but earns approximately $58 for every extra hour of overtime. Working regular hours, he would have earned $10,725 in that two-month period. But by working 553.5 extra hours, on top of his 277.5 regular hours, he took home just under four times more: $42,814 in two months.
Farbstein said that construction inspectors are allowed to work more than eight hours a day, but she declined to answer if they, or the other top overtime earners, face any limits on how many hours they are allowed to work.
