MTA Continues to Use “Honor System” for Tracking Workers' Hours, Despite History of Abuse

The MTA is spending over $30 million dollars to upgrade its payroll system as part of an effort to crackdown on overtime abuse. But a report finds some employees still use the old paper-based “honor system.”

The MTA has been trying to get its workers to use a biometric time clock—a device they clock in and out with, using their fingerprints. This comes after a Long Island Railroad foreman made more than any other MTA employee in 2018, by racking up more than 3,000 hours of forged overtime in one year.

But a report this week from the MTA’s Inspector General says many workers are still using pen and paper—the honor system—to track their hours.

She says if the MTA wants to fully modernize, all workers need to use the biometric clocks, and they need to be fully integrated with the payroll system.