Metra Employees Taking Advantage of Overtime Pay

by Will Compernolle The Sun-Times reports that more than 10% of Metra employees last year made at least $20,000 in overtime pay. Total overtime pay in 2009 reached nearly $20 million. Metra says that, while it’s hardly ideal to spend so much on overtime pay, there’s not much it can do about a lot of it. Accidents, bad...

by Will Compernolle

The Sun-Times reports that more than 10% of Metra employees last year made at least $20,000 in overtime pay. Total overtime pay in 2009 reached nearly $20 million.

Metra says that, while it’s hardly ideal to spend so much on overtime pay, there’s not much it can do about a lot of it.

Accidents, bad weather and other delay-causing problems also result in people working more than 40 hours, says Jeffrey L. Barton, Metra’s director of labor relations.

…A lot of work at Metra needs to be done when the trains aren’t running – on weekends and overnight, says Barton. That’s especially true for signal and track work, he says.

Interestingly, another key reason for the large portion of overtime pay comes from Metra’s compliance with the Federal Railroad Administration rules giving “the most senior employees preference for the best shifts – daytime on weekdays – and also to get overtime shifts.” The law that created Metra in 1983 by the Illinois Legislature required it to accept the FRA’s rules for operation.

Charles Lough, chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, claims the current overtime policy is actually a cheaper alternative, since paying two different employees would require paying twice as much in benefits.

It doesn’t look like changing the current system would be an easy task: “Trying to change the current rules could upset Metra’s relations with its labor unions and might just shift overtime from weekends to weekdays but not save any money, Barton says.”

To read the whole article, click here.