Three state agencies racked up some $28 million worth of overtime hours during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2020, according to a legislative watchdog committee.
That’s on top of the $28 million and $23 million overtime totals that the Departments of Correctional Services, Health and Human Services and Transportation accumulated during the two previous years.
The Nebraska Legislature’s Performance Audit Committee issued a report this week looking at overtime trends in the three agencies with the largest amount of overtime spending. The report was released without comments or recommendations from the committee.
However, it showed the agencies’ dependence on overtime to compensate for vacant positions and employee absences or to meet peak workload demands. Overtime spending accounted for up to 10% of the agencies’ personnel budgets.
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The Performance Audit Committee requested a follow-up study looking at how raises negotiated last year have affected the trends. The raises targeted several front-line positions in Corrections and HHS, which struggled with staffing even before the pandemic-driven labor shortages.
The Corrections Department, which operates nine prisons in five communities across Nebraska, relied the most heavily on overtime by a majority of the measures studied in the report.
Corrections spent more than twice as much on overtime each year than either of the two other agencies, with amounts increasing from $13 million in fiscal year 2017-18, the first year studied, up to $15.5 million in fiscal year 2019-20, the last year. Overtime accounted for about 10% of the agency’s personnel budget.
The report also showed that 80% of the 2,300 Corrections employees worked some overtime hours. Front-line workers, particularly corporals, unit caseworkers, officers, sergeants and unit case managers, accounted for the bulk of the time.
In Corrections, three-quarters of employees added less than $10,000 to their paychecks through overtime. But 15 workers bulked up their salaries by $50,000 or more in at least one of the three years. The top earner, a unit case manager, collected $91,199 in overtime pay during the 2017-18 fiscal year.
HHS, the largest state agency, operates seven 24-hour facilities, including psychiatric hospitals, facilities for juvenile offenders and a center for people with developmental disabilities. Those facilities accounted for the bulk of the agency’s overtime spending.
The agency’s overtime grew from $5 million in the first year studied to $7.4 million two years later and amounted to 2% to 3% of the personnel budget, the report showed.
HHS had the largest number of employees — more than 2,200 — working overtime in two of the years studied. But it also had the smallest percentages. Between 32% and 40% of the agency’s 4,600 employees worked overtime, with most holding jobs on the front line in institutions.
While 93% of HHS employees earned less than $10,000 from overtime, four made about $50,000 or more. The top earner, a mental health security specialist, pulled in $69,217 in fiscal year 2019-20.
Transportation employees, who plan, build and maintain state roads and bridges, accumulated overtime largely because of seasonal work demands, such as construction projects, snow removal and responding to weather-related damage to the state’s highway system.
The agency’s overtime spending was highest in the middle year — $6.6 million — and lowest in the first year — $4.9 million. It ranged from 5% to 6% of the personnel budget.
Between 61% and 70% of the agency’s 2,000 employees worked overtime in the years studied, but 93% earned less than $10,000 from those hours. The top earner, a highway construction technician, brought in $39,688 from overtime in fiscal year 2018-19.