MTA worker suspended for moonlighting as adjunct professor for 4 years; supervisors fired

A Metropolitan Transportation Authority computer specialist was suspended — and two of her supervisors fired — after an investigation uncovered that she had been working a second job as an adjunct professor during her MTA work hours for four years, according to the transit agency’s watchdog.

The unidentified employee served a 30-day suspension after MTA Inspector General Daniel Cort’s office launched an investigation in October 2022 following a complaint from another MTA worker. The probe found that the employee had been moonlighting for an unnamed "local college" since the spring of 2020 without receiving the necessary approvals by the MTA.

MTA officials would not identify the worker, or say why she was not fired.

The worker, who has a private office in the LIRR's Jamaica headquarters, taught classes both in person, and remotely, sometimes using an MTA-issued computer, and mostly during her MTA work hours, according to Cort’s office. The MTA paid the employee $147,213.64 last year, including $16,529.72 in overtime, according to the report.

In a statement, MTA spokesman Michael Cortez said, "Violating the public’s trust will not be tolerated under any circumstances."

"In this instance, an employee used MTA property to support unauthorized outside employment," Cortez said. "Disciplinary action has been taken against the employee involved and supervisors who failed to properly supervise."

Investigators were unable to determine whether the employee was paid wages by the MTA to which she was not entitled, in part because they don't know how many hours she was teaching remotely from her MTA work location when she should have been doing her regular job.

The worker told investigators that she taught at her second job on her own time, including during lunch breaks, and "still worked my 8 hours" for the MTA. She told investigators that some higher-ups at the MTA had been aware of her side gig over the years, but she was unsure if her current supervisor knew.

Three different supervisors were "completely unaware" of the worker’s dual employment, according to a statement from Cort’s office. Two of those supervisors were terminated following the investigation’s findings, and a third received a written warning.

"For years, this employee had free rein to teach college classes during her workday without permission due to an alarming lack of supervision," Cort said. "All of the employees involved breached the public trust, and I commend the MTA for holding them accountable."

It’s not the first time transit workers have been caught moonlighting in other jobs while on the clock for the MTA. A year ago, Cort’s office announced that a Long Island Rail Road machinist had resigned after an investigation uncovered that he was employed by an airline and claimed to be working at both jobs simultaneously on more than 100 occasions over 31 months.

Around the same time, a New York City Transit "track worker/chauffeur" was fired after being caught simultaneously working as a freight truck driver, violating the MTA’s rest rules.

The latest incident comes as the MTA faces scrutiny about its labor costs, including a record $1.42 billion overtime bill in 2023. Overtime costs grew, despite the MTA putting several measures in place to rein in extra pay for workers in 2019 following allegations of overtime fraud among some workers.

The MTA last week revealed that it expects it operating costs will climb further because of Gov. Kathy Hochul's pause on congestion pricing, which will force the MTA to take on up to $200 million in extra payroll costs that would have otherwise been covered by the expected toll revenue.

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.