New state overtime figures reveal Cuomo administration's misplaced priorities

ALBANY, NY (04/30/2013)(readMedia)-- CSEA – New York's leading union today charged the latest figures on New York's excessive state employee overtime costs reveal the glaring deficiencies in the Cuomo administration's management by news release.

"The Cuomo administration continues to purposely understaff state agencies and mandate overtime to a perverse degree," said CSEA President Danny Donohue. "They tell the public they're cutting the public work force and improving operations when they are really eroding decent middle-class jobs, leaving people at risk and still costing the public plenty."

Nearly all the overtime in agencies like the Office of People with Developmental Disabilities, OPWDD) and the Office of Mental Health is mandated. Union contracts DO NOT entitle workers to overtime. It is a management choice to use overtime to cover shifts and necessitated by chronic understaffing. OPWDD, for instance, has been slow to fill direct care positions.

Many budget managers and accountants prefer to pay overtime rather than hire more staff. CSEA has long pointed out, however, that excessive and chronic mandated overtime is counterproductive. It contributes to fatigue, burnout and the likelihood of both occupational injuries and on-the job mistakes. It takes a human toll and also costs taxpayers in the long run.

The evidence of the administration undermining the front-line state work force is coincidental with other news demonstrating Gov. Andrew Cuomo's misplaced priorities. The administration recently petitioned the Civil Service Commission to authorize the creation of 120 exempt class positions in a new job title called "Empire State Fellow."

Exactly why the new positions and why so many of them are needed is unclear. According to the job description, these "Fellows" would "work on the most pressing policy issues facing the state and advance the administration's strategic objectives and programmatic initiatives."

Additionally, it was recently reported that the Cuomo administration is paying an outside consulting firm to advise on recruitment practices for the state work force.

"The people of New York would be better served if Governor Cuomo showed more concern about managing his existing work force – providing them with the help, resources and respect that they need – rather than bringing in outside consultants and a new layer of political patronage," Donohue said.

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