New York Overtime Fraudster Claims MTA and Union Knew About the Scheme

A confessed overtime scammer claims sleeping on the job was “commonplace” at the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), acknowledged by railroad management and the union.

According to the New York Post, Matthew Keller, the lawyer for 52-year-old Joseph Balestra, stated in court documents that the alleged sleeping was “sanctioned by often-ambiguous rules, policies, and ‘handshake agreements’ between the union and LIRR management.”

Keller said, “The nature of the work on many of the overnight shifts at issue required Mr. Balestra and others to perform work at the very beginning and very end of the shift, leaving a several-hour gap in the middle of the shift during which the workers had ‘nothing to do’ as a result, they would sometimes sleep, and claim the hours spent doing so as hours worked.”

The court filing also claimed that sleeping on the job was so normal that Balestra’s workspace featured a “shack with a couch where you could sleep.”

In September, Balestra, who worked for the LIRR as a surface foreman, pleaded guilty to receiving more than $5,000 in overtime pay as part of an elaborate scam with his coworkers. He reportedly collected $348,000 from the LIRR in 2018, including $241,000 in OT, after submitting timesheets for 2,954 OT hours on top of 2,000 regular hours worked. That equates to an extra eight hours of pay every day for the year. Balestra’s stepfather was vice general chairman of SMART Local 29, the LIRR’s largest union.

MTA “Overtime King” Thomas Caputo, John Nugent, and Joseph Ruzzo have also pleaded guilty. Frank Pizzonia, a fifth defendant, has filed paperwork suggesting that he intends to plead guilty as well. They each face up to 16 months behind bars. 

Prosecutors said the men took advantage of their union seniority to collect “improbable” sums of overtime pay by getting positions on large-scale projects where they could keep an “informal rotation” so one person could leave and the rest of the group would cover for him. The jobs were mainly for two projects: a private construction project at Hudson Yards in Manhattan that required LIRR oversight and track work in Queens related to the delayed $11 billion MTA East Side Access project. Prosecutors contend both projects “had several positions where more LIRR employees were assigned than were necessary to allow the construction to progress.”

MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan stated, “The LIRR has no tolerance for timekeeping fraud, which is a violation of the trust the public places in employees to be honest about the work they perform.” The MTA has also introduced biometric time clocks in the transit system to prevent fraud.

1 comment
  1. And this is new to anyone? This has been going on with the unions for decades. Unions are a scam that that got corrupted a long time ago. The bigger the union the easier it is to corrupt If it wasn’t the Mob that was involved, it was the corrupt union bosses that weaseled their way into top elected positions. I used to be a union member and for a time was a union Stewart. I watched them get rich screwing over the companies then collect union dues that screwed over the workers and made their friends wealthy. They brainwash the workers into thinking the unions are all for the workers, but in reality the unions are all for themselves. They are so strong in some places, you can’t get a job unless you become a union member. Some unions are so bloated with workers and retirees, you have to wait until someone dies to become a member in those states or areas. I got punished for speaking out on some issues. I wound up enlisting in the military to get away from them. I hate unions!
    Don’t get me wrong, at one time unions were needed and were good. But like all things that start out good, become big, have loyal members and have influence or some power, corrupt individuals get involved or the criminal elements corrupt individuals or take over. Or worse the corrupt political types turn the unions and the workers into political pawns and political/union slaves. I watched them fight for some lowlife lazy trailer trash scum, that abuses his smoke breaks, sick time, has no work ethic, does terrible work, has no pride at what they are doing and treats their job like they are gods gift to the company. But the union will turn away from a guy that is the hard worker, has pride in his work, does an excellent job, hardly takes a day off. They will have the company lay him off before they allow anything happen to the scumbag because the scumbag has been there longer.
    Look at how they have become so powerful within the Demoncratic party. They want to be able to force people into the unions through intimidation with open ballots, so they can target the ones that vote against unionization. Or how they talk the ignorant workers into being thugs to ruff up and beat the hell out of anyone that wants to put out information on voting for a right to work state. People have been killed by these brainwashed union thugs. The union conveniently denies and forgets about them when they are arrested and thrown into prison. They become just another statistic, collateral damage or cannon fodder for the fight to keep the union bosses wealthy and powerful.
    For the most part, unions are a good old boys club, a political lobbing groups for local and national causes and fund raisers for politicians even if the majority of the workers don’t like that person. As long as the politician scratches the union bosses back, the union will have it’s workers back them. You play the games and you get ahead and they will help and back you. But you have to play the game just to have a job. You must sell your sole to the union if you want in.

Join The Discussion

Related Posts
Total
5
Share