Overtime Can Double Pay of Some City Employees : Government: More than 34% of the extra money is earned by just 6% of the work force. The L.A. controller calls for a review of the payments.

One Los Angeles firefighter logged so much overtime this year--more than doubling his $55,000 annual salary--that a superior speculated that he was “almost literally never home.” At least five harbor police officers were on the clock so often that they made more than the chief of the 51-officer department. And dozens of refuse collectors pulled down up to $26,000 apiece in overtime, in large part because the city’s new automated garbage trucks kept breaking down.

In at least one Los Angeles city department, such big earners are known as “S.O.D. hogs”-- workers who earn big dollars for working “scheduled overtime duty.” There are 1,810 city employees who have earned more than $15,000 in overtime in the last 11 months. Although they make up just 6% of the city’s work force, the workers collected more than 34% of the city’s nearly $112 million in overtime payments, records show.

City Controller Rick Tuttle has called for a review of the payments, saying that there is no proof of wrongdoing, but that overtime should be held to a minimum to help reduce a city deficit projected at $155 million.

The urgency of the review was underscored this week when it was revealed that a top employee of the Department of General Services had resigned after accusations that he improperly authorized up to $88,000 in overtime pay for himself.

“It appears that the lack of adequate cost controls may be widespread throughout the entire city government,” said City Councilman Joel Wachs, a mayoral candidate who has also called for a review of the payments.

After a preliminary review, several city supervisors expressed surprise at the high pay but said the payments appear justified. The overtime was caused by a number of factors, they said, ranging from the spring riots to mechanical breakdowns to staff reductions because of a freeze on new hiring.

Leading the way in overtime was the Fire Department, with 1,425 employees each earning more than $15,000 in overtime for hours beyond their standard 56-hour weeks.

In the Fire Department, where the phrase “S.O.D. hog” was coined, the champion overtime earner was engineer David C. McLean, who logged $62,148 in overtime in addition to his salary of $55,707. His total of $117,855 in pay is more than the $90,680 earned by City Council members.

“Wow!” said Deputy Fire Chief Don Anthony when told of McLean’s pay. “I think it’s excessive when someone earns $62,000 in overtime. I have to tell you, that individual is almost literally never home.”

McLean could not be reached for comment. But Ken Buzzell, president-elect of the firefighters union, said McLean is known throughout the department as someone who will work “anytime, anywhere, anyplace for anybody.”

“He works the equivalent of 100 extra days a year,” Buzzell said. “He will work Christmas and New Year’s Day. He hardly goes home.”

Three firefighters and a fire captain also topped $46,000 in overtime for the 11 months, to round out the department’s top five.

Anthony said that the department benefits because overtime costs are actually lower than those for hiring, training and paying benefits to new employees. But he said he is concerned that the high overtime pay could indicate that some employees are working too much, threatening to burn out.

Buzzell said McLean has been an exemplary employee and that, with supervisors approving extended overtime, employees cannot work beyond their capacity. “Just because somebody staggers into the station, it doesn’t mean we let them work,” Buzzell said.

Of the nearly $111.7 million in overtime logged citywide in the last 11 months, the Fire Department accounted for more than $45 million and the Police Department for $39 million, with trash collection and disposal costing another $6 million, and extra pay at the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant amounting to $2 million.

Along with the LAPD, the city’s other law enforcement agencies--the Airport Police and Port Police--also logged substantial overtime.

That led to an unusual circumstance in the Port Police, in particular, where at least five officers earned more than the $68,000 a year taken in by Chief Noel Cunningham. The two top earners, in fact, more than doubled their $40,000-plus annual salaries with pay for extra time, records show.

“It doesn’t bother me,” said Cunningham. “These men are working hard.”

Cunningham said costs had jumped up because of an increasing flow of goods through the port and extra duty during the riots. But he added that his department is trying to cut overtime by at least 10% at the request of Harbor Department administrators.

The city’s Refuse Collection Division has also seen an avalanche of overtime, which administrators Tuesday blamed mostly on the city’s new automated trash collection trucks.

Fifty-five employees have made more than $15,000 in overtime since last December, tacked onto salaries in the $37,000 to $50,000 range.

“Those numbers do sound high and we are investigating it,” said Marilyn McGuire, refuse collection manager. But McGuire said the introduction of automated trash trucks to the East San Fernando Valley area had led to most of the overtime payments.

Supt. Richard Wozniak, who oversees the East Valley yard, said refuse collectors are often forced to work until 9 or 10 p.m., rather than their usual 2 p.m. quitting time, because of continual breakdowns of the automated arms on the trucks. Public complaints about late trash pickups have also increased nearly four-fold, forcing supervisors to work extra hours to deal with an angry public and to reroute trucks, Wozniak said.

The new trucks were supposed to speed trash pickup and save money because they require only one worker instead of two. But morale among rubbish haulers is sinking because the trucks work so poorly, Wozniak said.

Most of the employees in his department are tired of the extra work, Wozniak said. “We get complaints from them that it is too much,” he said. “They don’t want as much.”

A group of city carpenters and construction workers, dubbed the “A Team” by the Department of General Services, also received substantial extra pay in the aftermath of the riots, when the crew of five was called in to demolish 156 private buildings that were deemed to be immediate public hazards.

The team often worked under duress--wading through supermarkets strewn with rotten food and fending off threats from angry residents, said William Mickow, the superintendent of construction for the city.

“Not everyone wanted to go down there,” Mickow said.

But the payoff was handsome for those who did.

One member of the A Team earned more than $20,000 in overtime and another brought in nearly $19,000.

Times staff writer Richard Simon contributed to this story.

Overtime Overload

As the city struggles to bridge a budget deficit of $155 million, officials are looking for ways to cut overtime costs that have topped $111 million in the first 11 months of this year. Here is a look at the city’s top overtime earners by department.

The list includes only departments with at least one person earning more than $15,000 in overtime. DEPARTMENT: Fire NAME: David C. Mc Lean POSITION: Engineer OT EARNINGS: $62,148.29

DEPARTMENT: Harbor NAME: Name withheld* POSITION: Special Officer IV OT EARNINGS: $42,479.23

DEPARTMENT: Police NAME: James B. Vojtecky POSITION: Police Detective III OT EARNINGS: $32,814.26

DEPARTMENT: Airports NAME: Leo E. Wright POSITION: Airport Safety Officer OT EARNINGS: $27,951.39

DEPARTMENT: Print Shop NAME: Michael J. Boundy POSITION: Print Shop Supervisor OT EARNINGS: $27,489.36

DEPARTMENT: Hyperion Treatment Plant NAME: Harry Khachadrian POSITION: Energy Recovery Operator OT EARNINGS: $26,205.50

DEPARTMENT: Refuse Collection NAME: Clark J. Tapia POSITION: Truck Operator OT EARNINGS: $26,090.76

DEPARTMENT: Transportation NAME: Montgomery Turner POSITION: Traffic Officer OT EARNINGS: $24,289.74

DEPARTMENT: Terminal Isle Treatment Plant NAME: Fred S. Rampe POSITION: Building RepairSupervisor OT EARNINGS: $24,055.28

DEPARTMENT: Contract Administration NAME: Wolfgang Dubberke POSITION: Senior Construction Inspector OT EARNINGS: $23,594.40

DEPARTMENT: Gen. Services Construction NAME: Roy Crayton POSITION: Senior Carpenter OT EARNINGS: $20,202.71

DEPARTMENT: General Services NAME: James D. Bisetti POSITION: Chief Management Analyst OT EARNINGS: $19,796.84

DEPARTMENT: Police (civilian) NAME: Jimmy R. Cassel POSITION: Forensic Print Specialist OT EARNINGS: $19,437.49

DEPARTMENT: Refuse Disposal NAME: James F. Kurz POSITION: Equipment Supervisor OT EARNINGS: $19,121.51

DEPARTMENT: Enforcement Divison NAME: Said Amirsolaimany POSITION: Sanitary Engineer OT EARNINGS: $18,844.65

DEPARTMENT: Municipal Auditorium NAME: Thomas E. Fields POSITION: Senior Electrician OT EARNINGS: $18,138.07

* Officer works undercover.

SOURCE: Los Angeles city controller’s office