DWP computers log more than 1,300 hours searching salaries database
Since the Los Angeles Times posted a searchable database of Department of Water and Power employees’ pay online late Tuesday night, visitors from the department’s computer network have spent approximately 1,300 hours on the site.
That’s the equivalent of seven-and-a-half months of eight-hour work days.
The database page is the first to allow the public -- and apparently DWP workers -- to search individual employees’ base pay, overtime and other earnings at the city-owned utility.
The Times originally requested the data in early February. The DWP and the union that represents 90% of its employees delayed release of the information until late May, the day after the mayoral election. The agency’s employees’ union spent $1.65 million to support City Controller Wendy Greuel, who lost to city Councilman Eric Garcetti.
When the information was released, the DWP redacted the names of nearly 1,200 employees who said their personal safety would be compromised if their identities were revealed.
The Times and the city attorney are challenging that in court. Pay information for government employees is considered public information under California law and a variety of court rulings. In rare cases, undercover police officers have been allowed to withhold their identities for safety reasons.
The Times’ search engine had attracted more than 15,000 visitors as of Friday morning, and 4,852 of those used computers logged into the DWP network, according to Google Analytics, a Web traffic monitoring program. The average DWP visitor spent about 16 minutes on the site and viewed nearly 14 separate pages in the database.
Visitors from the DWP and other local government computer networks -- including the city of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County and Los Angeles Unified School District -- have accounted for more than half of the more than 160,000 page views.
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