Many city workers are racking up jaw-dropping overtime to help tackle the Big Apple’s multi-billion-dollar migrant crisis — even as Mayor Adams begins slashing agency budgets for public safety and other critical services.
Forty-seven — or nearly half — of the city’s top 100 OT hogs work at the Department of Social Services and Department of Homeless Services, whose duties include assisting migrants, according to newly released city payroll records.
Each worker accumulated at least 1,937 hours in extra pay for the fiscal year ending June 30.
Leading the way was Anthony Pierce, a Bronx eligibility specialist at the DSS — he worked 3,172 hours of overtime, a 142% increase over previous 12 months.
That averages out to roughly 14 hours a day, seven days a week.
His $136,096 overtime earnings nearly tripled his $50,643 base salary.
Others rounding out the top 10 include two DSS supervisors, a DSS bookkeeper and a DHS laborer, all of whom worked more than 2,500 hours of OT.
In the previous fiscal year, only three staffers at both departments combined were among the top 100 who clocked in the most overtime.
While other agencies also assist migrants, DSS and DHS have been stretched thin by the influx of roughly 140,000 asylum seekers reaching the Big Apple since April 2022.
Both agencies saw staffers rack up a combined 2,690,659 hours of overtime, totaling more than $123.1 million in payouts, records show.
That is a 51% increase in overtime worked compared to fiscal 2021, before the migrant crisis, when DSS and DHS staffers clocked at extra 1,770,634 hours beyond regular shifts.
Overtime earning also spiked 70%, from $72.3 million.
In fiscal 2022, which included the first three months of the migrant influx to New York, the agencies’ workers made more than $103.9 million in OT for 2,508,472 hours worked.
Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens) said the costs of the migrant crisis are troubling, and like Adams, blamed President Biden.
“New Yorkers are getting the short end of the stick, facing cuts to critical services while migrants get more,” he said. “It’s long past time to stop this nonsense, redirect those buses to the White House, and get back to serving New Yorkers.”
Adams this week announced he’s moving ahead with across-the-board 5% cuts at all city agencies, with another 10% cut set for early next year, to offset an expected $12 billion tab for helping asylum seekers.
The next five Police Academy classes are set to be cancelled.
“When we go bankrupt, thank a migrant, and more importantly, thank the politicians who supported this madness,” quipped Council Minority Leader Joseph Borelli (R-Staten Island).
Although not all of DSS and DHS’s overtime is attributed to the migrant crisis, many staffers at both agencies saw their workloads typically increase because of it.
“DSS has been at the forefront of the city’s response to the asylum seeker crisis since it began, and we are incredibly grateful to our staff from across the agency who, despite truly unprecedented challenges, have stepped up and worked long hours to provide necessary supports for our newest arrivals,” said department spokesman Nicholas Jacobelli.
