Lee Zurik Investigation: S&WB’s overtime policy means millions down the drain

Written by: Lee Zurik

New Orleans, La. -Almost three years ago, in the summer of 2010, we detailed sky-high overtime earnings for some Sewerage and Water Board employees.

“To have overtime at these rates just is a red flag that something needs to be evaluated,” said Janet Howard, head of the Bureau of Governmental Research, in our 2010 report. She called the overtime payments a huge waste of resources.

Employees earned more in overtime than their base salary. The Sewerage and Water Board gave several employees with a base salary of $60,000 almost $80,000 in overtime, bringing their total compensation to $160,000 a year. Sewerage and Water Board Executive Director Marcia St. Martin promised changes.

“While we say ‘thank you for doing a good job for us and thank you for being available, no matter what time of day or night there is a weather-related event,’ it’s not how we want to be able to continually maintain the operation,” St. Martin told us in 2010.

But our research shows the overtime has not just continued; in some ways, it’s gotten worse.

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