Moonlighting LIRR worker clocked into 2 jobs more than 100 times, report says

 A Long Island Rail Road machinist is out of his job after an investigation uncovered that he wrongfully moonlighted for an airline and claimed to be working at both jobs simultaneously on more than 100 occasions over 31 months.

The unidentified worker is one of two former Metropolitan Transportation Authority employees targeted in a recent investigation by the office of the MTA Inspector General regarding “unauthorized dual employment.” The other is a New York City Transit “track worker/chauffeur” who was also working as a freight truck driver and violated the agency's rest rules.

“While stealing time is serious misconduct, the issue becomes even more egregious when workers holding safety-sensitive positions endanger their MTA colleagues and the public by not getting sufficient rest,” said MTA Inspector General Daniel Cort, who was confirmed to the post by the State Senate in June.

According to Cort’s office, the 20-year LIRR machinist, had, since 1996, also been working as an airline customer service agent and cargo agent, originally at Kennedy Airport and later at LaGuardia Airport.

Following an anonymous tip, investigators found that on 103 dates between Sept. 1, 2019, and March 31, 2022, “time records reflect the machinist working at LIRR and the airline at the same time,” according to a letter sent by Cort’s office to LIRR interim president Catherine Rinaldi in April.

Investigators found “approximately 243 hours of overlapping time, generally at the end of his LIRR shift.” The report did not estimate a cost for the overlapping time.

There were also several dates when the man took sick leave from the LIRR — both paid and unpaid — but was working at his other job.

MTA spokesman Michael Cortez, in a statement, said "theft of time under any circumstance will not be tolerated at the MTA.”

“The vast majority of the 70,000-person MTA workforce shows up every day to keep New Yorkers moving, and they don’t deserve to be grouped with these bad apples,” Cortez said. 

According to the MTA, the railroad worker resigned after being brought up on disciplinary charges that could have resulted in his termination. The LIRR is now trying to recoup money paid to the employee for time he did not work.

According to the MTA inspector general’s office, the former LIRR machinist told investigators that he did not notify either of his employers that he was working two jobs, because he did not feel that they interfered with each other. He added that “he could not recall any time when his shifts at LIRR and the airline overlapped,” Cort’s office said.

The inspector general also uncovered a similar situation involving the New York City Transit worker, who was moonlighting as a freight truck driver, and claimed to be at both jobs at the same time on seven different occasions. He also took 30 sick days from the MTA to work in his other job, investigators said. Because he was in a “safety-sensitive” position, the worker also violated MTA rules regarding rest requirements 156 times.

The MTA confirmed it fired that worker in June.

It was unclear if the cases were being investigated as criminal matters.

Although the MTA does allow employees to hold down other jobs in certain circumstances, neither of the two workers ever received authorization for dual employment, the inspector general’s office said.

Cortez said the actions taken by the two employees violate both the agency’s code of ethics and also “the trust of their co-workers.”

In 2019, the MTA vowed to tighten up its employee time and attendance record-keeping procedures after paying a record $1.35 billion in overtime in 2018, including to five LIRR workers who were later convicted of fraud for lying about hours that they worked.

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.