High Risk Update—State Overtime Costs:
A Variety of Factors Resulted in Significant Overtime Costs at the Departments of Mental Health and Developmental Services
HIGHLIGHTS
Our review of the State's overtime costs revealed the following:
- Employees at five entities, excluding the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, were paid at least $1.3 billion of the more than $2.1 billion in overtime pay during fiscal years 2003-04 through 2007-08.
- Significant amounts of overtime were paid to a relatively small number of individuals in two job classifications at the departments of Mental Health and Developmental Services. For instance, in fiscal year 2007-08, at Mental Health's Napa State Hospital (Napa), 19, or 4 percent, of the 489 nurses in the registered nurse- safety classification averaged $78,000 in regular pay and $99,000 in overtime compensation.
- According to various studies, individuals working excessive amounts of overtime may compromise their own and their patients' or consumers' health and safety.
- One reason for the significant amounts of overtime at Napa and Developmental Services' Sonoma Developmental Center (Sonoma) is fluctuations in staffing ratios caused by the need to provide certain patients or consumers with one-on-one care.
- Pursuant to their respective bargaining unit agreements (agreements), both Mental Health and Developmental Services allowed leave hours to be counted as time worked in calculating overtime. For instance, during our review of overtime at Sonoma, we identified one employee who was paid for 160 hours of overtime in one month, even though that same employee took 167 hours of leave during that same month.
- State law was changed in February 2009 to no longer allow leave to be counted in computing overtime for the two job classifications we tested. However, this same state law indicates that it may be superceded by agreements ratified subsequent to the law's effective date that once again could contain provisions that allow employees' leave time to be counted as time worked in computing overtime.
