Overtime Hours Increase for Eighth Year in a Row
By Hank Russell
New York State agency overtime costs increased 10.2% in 2024 for a total of $1.3 billion, while the number of overtime hours increased by 7.8%, or 1.8 million hours higher than the previous year, according to the annual report issued today by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli examining state agencies’ overtime and workforce trends.
After a long-term decrease in staffing levels, the size of the state workforce, not including State University of New York (SUNY) and the City University of New York (CUNY), grew by 3.7% in 2024 from 2023, or 5,330 positions, to an average annual total of 151,309. This was the second year in a row the workforce increased, but headcount is still below where it was in 2019 and markedly lower than 15 years ago when it was over 177,000.
Key findings include:
- The number of overtime hours increased for the eighth consecutive year in 2024, as overtime earnings increased for the eighth time in a ten-year period after a decrease last year.
- Three agencies accounted for about two-thirds of the state’s overtime in 2024. The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD), and the Office of Mental Health comprised 23% of the workforce but accounted for 66.7% of the overtime hours and 64.5% of the overtime earnings logged by all state agencies in 2024.
- In the 2015 to 2024 period, Corrections, OPWDD, and Mental Health experienced greater-than-average workforce reductions of 22.7%, 5.7%, and 3.5%, respectively. Average annual overtime hours per Corrections employee grew 26.3% from 2023 to 325 annual overtime hours in 2024, with the increase coinciding with a workforce reduction of more than 1,000 in that year.
- Of the major agencies with overtime costs, most had increases in overtime hours and earnings in 2024, including growth of about 11% or more at eleven major agencies. Along with the increase of almost 1.3 million hours at Corrections, there were major rises in the number of hours at the Department of Transportation (241,000), State University of New York (226,000), Division of State Police (190,000), Mental Health (107,200), the Unified Court System (101,000) and the Office of Children and Family Services (98,500). There were also high proportional increases at the Department of Labor (435%), and New York State Veterans’ Homes (30.7%).
- Two agencies saw notable declines in overtime hours worked: OPWDD (-652,900) and the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (-25,300).
- 2023 was the first year new hiring outpaced attrition in the state workforce in over a decade. In 2023, there were 17,504 new hires, the highest in the 10 years covered by this analysis, while attrition declined by 9.5% to 14,699. In 2021, 2022, and 2023, attrition from the workforce has been driven largely by people leaving rather than retirement. In 2023, the State launched the NY HELPS program, temporarily allowing State agencies to make appointments to positions typically filled on an open-competitive basis to candidates meeting the minimum qualifications of the position.
In 2024, total state payroll costs were $21 billion. Overtime earnings comprised 6.3% of total payroll spending in 2024, higher than the 5.4% average from 2015 through 2023. Overtime earnings as a share of total payroll grew from 4.6% in 2015 to 6.3% in 2024, as total overtime hours increased over this time by close to 7.7 million hours, or nearly 46%. Pay rates increased from 2015 to 2024 contributing to a growth of 85% in overtime earnings, from $716 million in 2015 to $1.3 billion in 2024, or an 8% average annual increase.
Correction led all agencies in OT costs with $44.7 million, up 26% from the previous year. OPWDD saw a 12% decline in costs from 2023 as the agency paid out $234.6 million. Mental Health paid out $176.3 million last year, which is 0.7% less than it was the prior year. Rounding out the top five are State Police ($109.6, +17.5%) and SUNY ($107.4 million, 10.7%).
Last year, Corrections had the most overtime in the books with 7,441,833 hours, which is 20.8% higher than in 2023. OPWDD logged in 5,394,450 hours, down 10.8% from the previous year, followed by Mental Health (3,496,940, +3.2%), SUNY (2,122,853, +11.9%) and Transportation (1,671,320, +16.9%).
“Overtime continued to grow in 2024 despite increases to a workforce that remains below pre-pandemic staffing levels,” DiNapoli said. “New York needs to continue to attract and retain a range of diverse employees, and agencies need to ensure the use of overtime hours is justified and services are delivered safely and effectively for residents.”