Long overtime shifts by LIRR track workers threaten train passenger safety, says MTA inspector general

LIRR track workers report working excessively long overtime shifts that pose a threat to themselves and to public safety, says an MTA inspector general report released Thursday.

Employees of the Long Island Rail Road’s engineering department reported 5,255 work shifts in excess of 24 hours from January 2021 through June 2022, investigators found.

Over 4,000 of those shifts were worked by members of the department’s track division, responsible for the upkeep of the rails, track beds, and related equipment.

“Fatigued workers put the safety of employees, the public and railroad assets at risk, and we should not continue to normalize the situation,” Elizabeth Keating, the MTA’s acting inspector general, said in a statement.

Long shifts can be deadly — an LIRR trackworker was struck and killed by a train near the Queens Village station in 2017, an incident federal investigators tied to worker fatigue.

Managing overtime has long been an issue for the LIRR and other MTA agencies. Overtime has helped some MTA workers raise their annual pay to six figures. Five LIRR employees pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges stemming from a 2019 indictment for no-show overtime pay.

The audit released Thursday is based on a review of time cards submitted by LIRR employees and pay data. The audit reflects the hours employees report they worked, and not the actual time they spent carrying out job-related tasks.

One utility worker in the LIRR’s track division reported 64 shifts that ran longer then 24 hours, according to the report. One of those shifts involved working 61 straight hours across four days.

Another utility worker put in an 84-hour shift — working on the clock from 7 a.m. on Thursday, March 3, 2022, until 7 p.m. the following Sunday — with no scheduled rest periods or breaks.

“Throughout this continuous shift, according to his timesheet, the employee did various tasks [for a capital construction project], including building track and switches and installing equipment,” investigators wrote.

The majority of the overtime shifts are claimed by the same 267 of the railroad’s 457 track employees, the Office of the Inspector General found.

“The 20 employees with the most frequent long shifts, who were all track [division] employees, worked 37% of their assigned hours with a severe fatigue risk,” investigators wrote.

The inspector general’s analysis did not include excessive shifts around weather-related incidents and other emergencies, the report said.

Investigators cited staffing difficulties and rules in the workers’ contract as part of the reason employees regularly worked such long shifts.

“Some of these contributing factors include a large number of high-priority capital projects requiring labor, in combination with relatively low staffing levels due to a past hiring freeze and the subsequent pandemic,” the report reads.

Hours for track workers — who made $23 million in overtime in 2022 — are on the upswing.

Overtime increased 24% from 2021 to 2022, from 279,469 hours to 347,365 hours. Railroad officials told investigators this was due to massive capital projects such as the LIRR’s third track program and the creation of Grand Central Madison.

“All the managers OIG spoke with reported that a large volume of high-priority capital projects requires track employees working many hours on overtime to meet the construction schedule,” investigators wrote.

“Additionally, the managers stated that all capital projects are given equally high priority by the MTA, and must all be completed within the timeframes provided by the MTA,” they added.

Investigators also placed blame on the workers’ contract, which limits the railroad’s ability to regulate who gets to work overtime hours.

“The [MTA] has an opportunity this year to negotiate changes that could help prevent excessive hours and the resulting risk of severe on-the-job fatigue,” the inspector general’s office wrote.

The MTA’s contract with SMART Transportation Division 505, the union that represents track workers and other LIRR employees, requires that overtime hours be offered to the most senior employees first, and do not allow the railroad to limit an employee’s hours or choice of shifts.

The MTA’s contract with SMART 505 expires this month.

Anthony Simon, SMART’s general chairman, pushed back Thursday.

“Fatigue is always a concern, but our membership knows what they can handle and accept, as does management,” he told the Daily News. “It’s worked ribbon-cutting after ribbon-cutting.

“Instead of the MTA reacting to this IG report with the need for work-rule changes, start managing your outside contractors better, who rely on out workforce to support major projects,” he added. “Around-the-clock work requires around-the-clock hours.”

The MTA agreed with inspector general recommendations that it reduce overtime hours by better coordinating shifts and training employees to work across different types of equipment. LIRR further told officials told investigators that they would be filing a fatigue management plan with federal railroad regulators in July.

The report also indicated that the MTA “is currently developing proposals to the relevant LIRR unions for modifying or eliminating existing contractual work-rules that contribute to excessive consecutive hours and worker fatigue.”

MTA spokesman David Steckel would not confirm that the agency was pursuing work-rule changes in ongoing negotiations with the union, but said the railroad was actively engaged in hiring more workers.

“The LIRR will never compromise on employee safety and has increased its efforts to reduce excessive hours by filling open positions and starting the process of establishing a centralized manpower office to better plan and coordinate work shifts,” he said.

“The [railroad] is always looking for opportunities to work with its union partners and identify opportunities to decrease consecutive hours and improve safety.”