Teh One Who Knocks
07-10-2019, 10:35 AM
By David Meyer, Kevin Sheehan, Ruth Brown | New York Post
https://i.imgur.com/PzbB7SE.jpg
A Long Island Rail Road worker who raked in more than $280,000 in pay last year — more than half from overtime — was busted hanging out at home while on the clock, according to a report obtained by The Post.
But he was allowed to retire before he could be punished — and collect his full pension on the public dime.
Raymond Murphy, a foreman with the LIRR’s Buildings and Bridges department who’d been at the agency since 1996, was caught by the MTA’s Inspector General at or near his home on 10 occasions when he was on duty in April, May and June 2018, the Aug. 8 report says.
But he says he has nothing to apologize for.
“I’m retired now and that’s all I have to say,” Murphy said at his East Northport home Tuesday morning.
His wife then emerged from the house insisting he’s a “hardworking, honest guy” and griping about all the late hours he put in.
“If they hired enough guys and trained them to do the job, they wouldn’t have had to call him at all hours to go to work!” she said.
Murphy was one of the top earners in the whole MTA in 2017 — making a jaw-dropping $405,021, with $295,490 coming from overtime, according to data from government watchdog group the Empire Center.
He was on track to earn a similarly staggering sum last year when the IG’s office said it caught him filing fraudulent time sheets for time he was seen at home.
On one occasion in May, Murphy claimed to have worked at the Bethpage Yard on Long Island from 7:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. before high-tailing it to Manhattan’s West Side Yard, where he worked eight hours of overtime until 5:30 a.m., the report says.
But investigators saw him park his car and enter his home at 1:40 p.m. — and he was still there when they left at 4 p.m.
At 5:30 a.m. the next morning, when his West Side shift was supposed to wrap up, Murphy’s car was still in the driveway, and he emerged from the house and into his car at 7:10 a.m.
His time sheets also showed seemingly impossible hours.
In one five-day period in May, he claimed to have worked 114 of a possible 120 hours. And during a four-day stretch in June, he claimed 92 of a possible 96 hours.
When confronted by the IG’s office later that month, he initially claimed his union contract allowed him to leave if he was finished working early and that he got two hours’ travel time between Bethpage and Manhattan during which he often stops at home to shower.
After further grilling, he later admitted that both were untrue, the report says.
The IG recommended he be disciplined “up to and including termination” and that steps be taken to recoup pay for hours he didn’t work.
The MTA says it began disciplinary action, but he retired before it could be completed — leaving his pension for 22 years on the job intact.
He wound up making $280,950 in 2018 — $180,017 of which came from OT, according to the Empire Center.
The MTA says it still plans to sue him for around $10,000 for hours he didn’t work, and added that it has tightened timekeeping protocols in response.
The report comes as the MTA’s new Inspector General Carolyn Pokorny probes allegations of overtime abuse at the agency following a series of Post exposés on LIRR workers pulling in huge paychecks.
Among them, retired employee Thomas Caputo claimed he worked an additional 3,864 hours in 2018 to rake in $344,147 in overtime alone.
Pokorny and her team last month found a cable on a new biometric fingerprint timekeeping machine at the LIRR’s Jamaica station had been cut.
But the IG’s office found abuses beyond the LIRR.
It also caught subway train operator Victor Pecora claiming to have been working in 2017 when he was actually spotted driving elsewhere, according to another report from *January 2018.
On one occasion, he claimed to have worked from 2:28 a.m. to 4:48 p.m. in September 2017 — but was seen driving away from the yard at 1:21 p.m.
When confronted by the IG, he responded: “You got me, I’m fired, I’m not giving you anything,” the report states.
The MTA says he was suspended without pay and he also coughed up an unspecified amount in restitution. He retired on Nov. 30, 2018.
At his home in upstate Wappingers Falls Tuesday, Pecora blamed his *supervisors.
“I retired at the end of November, any money I made was done by my working and doing things that was requested by my supervisors,” he said.
And another investigation found Metro-North vehicle operator Jason Munz clocked in for shifts of up to 32 hours in 2016 — during which he often pulled his vehicle to the side of the road and napped for as many as seven hours at a time.
He also was caught doing personal shopping while on the clock.
Munz was suspended for 61 days starting in May 2018 and agreed to pay $300 in restitution, the MTA said.
He couldn’t be reached for comment.
https://i.imgur.com/PzbB7SE.jpg
A Long Island Rail Road worker who raked in more than $280,000 in pay last year — more than half from overtime — was busted hanging out at home while on the clock, according to a report obtained by The Post.
But he was allowed to retire before he could be punished — and collect his full pension on the public dime.
Raymond Murphy, a foreman with the LIRR’s Buildings and Bridges department who’d been at the agency since 1996, was caught by the MTA’s Inspector General at or near his home on 10 occasions when he was on duty in April, May and June 2018, the Aug. 8 report says.
But he says he has nothing to apologize for.
“I’m retired now and that’s all I have to say,” Murphy said at his East Northport home Tuesday morning.
His wife then emerged from the house insisting he’s a “hardworking, honest guy” and griping about all the late hours he put in.
“If they hired enough guys and trained them to do the job, they wouldn’t have had to call him at all hours to go to work!” she said.
Murphy was one of the top earners in the whole MTA in 2017 — making a jaw-dropping $405,021, with $295,490 coming from overtime, according to data from government watchdog group the Empire Center.
He was on track to earn a similarly staggering sum last year when the IG’s office said it caught him filing fraudulent time sheets for time he was seen at home.
On one occasion in May, Murphy claimed to have worked at the Bethpage Yard on Long Island from 7:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. before high-tailing it to Manhattan’s West Side Yard, where he worked eight hours of overtime until 5:30 a.m., the report says.
But investigators saw him park his car and enter his home at 1:40 p.m. — and he was still there when they left at 4 p.m.
At 5:30 a.m. the next morning, when his West Side shift was supposed to wrap up, Murphy’s car was still in the driveway, and he emerged from the house and into his car at 7:10 a.m.
His time sheets also showed seemingly impossible hours.
In one five-day period in May, he claimed to have worked 114 of a possible 120 hours. And during a four-day stretch in June, he claimed 92 of a possible 96 hours.
When confronted by the IG’s office later that month, he initially claimed his union contract allowed him to leave if he was finished working early and that he got two hours’ travel time between Bethpage and Manhattan during which he often stops at home to shower.
After further grilling, he later admitted that both were untrue, the report says.
The IG recommended he be disciplined “up to and including termination” and that steps be taken to recoup pay for hours he didn’t work.
The MTA says it began disciplinary action, but he retired before it could be completed — leaving his pension for 22 years on the job intact.
He wound up making $280,950 in 2018 — $180,017 of which came from OT, according to the Empire Center.
The MTA says it still plans to sue him for around $10,000 for hours he didn’t work, and added that it has tightened timekeeping protocols in response.
The report comes as the MTA’s new Inspector General Carolyn Pokorny probes allegations of overtime abuse at the agency following a series of Post exposés on LIRR workers pulling in huge paychecks.
Among them, retired employee Thomas Caputo claimed he worked an additional 3,864 hours in 2018 to rake in $344,147 in overtime alone.
Pokorny and her team last month found a cable on a new biometric fingerprint timekeeping machine at the LIRR’s Jamaica station had been cut.
But the IG’s office found abuses beyond the LIRR.
It also caught subway train operator Victor Pecora claiming to have been working in 2017 when he was actually spotted driving elsewhere, according to another report from *January 2018.
On one occasion, he claimed to have worked from 2:28 a.m. to 4:48 p.m. in September 2017 — but was seen driving away from the yard at 1:21 p.m.
When confronted by the IG, he responded: “You got me, I’m fired, I’m not giving you anything,” the report states.
The MTA says he was suspended without pay and he also coughed up an unspecified amount in restitution. He retired on Nov. 30, 2018.
At his home in upstate Wappingers Falls Tuesday, Pecora blamed his *supervisors.
“I retired at the end of November, any money I made was done by my working and doing things that was requested by my supervisors,” he said.
And another investigation found Metro-North vehicle operator Jason Munz clocked in for shifts of up to 32 hours in 2016 — during which he often pulled his vehicle to the side of the road and napped for as many as seven hours at a time.
He also was caught doing personal shopping while on the clock.
Munz was suspended for 61 days starting in May 2018 and agreed to pay $300 in restitution, the MTA said.
He couldn’t be reached for comment.