City Admits $19,057 Error in Pay Report

Los Angeles fire engineer David McLean has a reputation as a voracious worker, but even he couldn’t put in 2,102 hours during a two-week period. City officials admitted Wednesday they had mistakenly credited McLean with the hours and overpaid him by $19,057--leading to his ranking as the city’s top overtime recipient.

In fact, McLean ranked as the eighth-highest overtime earner in the Fire Department, with a total of $43,091 in extra pay since last December, not the $62,148 that the controller’s office reported.

“We regret that his overtime was incorrectly reported on the list that was released to the Los Angeles Times,” Deputy Controller Tim Lynch said Wednesday.

Officials in the controller’s office blamed the mistake on computer and human error. They said it happened this way:

A key puncher in the Fire Department incorrectly entered McLean in the department’s computer for 2,102 hours of work in the first two weeks of April, when he actually worked 102 hours.

A computer in the controller’s office caught the $19,057 error--and recovered the overpayment from McLean. The city’s computer records were also corrected to show what McLean actually was paid. But the high overtime amount remained in the database. Thus McLean was credited with the larger overtime amount when The Times this week requested records of the city’s top overtime earners.

The controller’s office said it has verified the amounts earned by other employees reported as top overtime recipients. Officials said they will continue to press for a review of overtime pay to help close the city’s budget deficit.