Exclusive | Hundreds of picketing LIRR workers strike it rich with $100K-plus overtime hauls: System is so distorted

Nearly a dozen Long Island Rail Road workers are hauling in more than $200,000 a year in overtime alone — a mind-boggling figure that rivals Gov.Kathy Hochul’s entire salary.The transit arm’s latest payroll records reveal that a slew of its unionized workers — whose strike is wreaking havoc on the metro area’s hard-working masses — are personally striking gold at the taxpayer’s expense.More than 325 Long Island Rail Road workers are raking in over $100,000 a year in overtime on top of their lucrative salaries, with 11 of them netting at least twice that huge figure in OT.Overtime costs account for a staggering 22% of the LIRR’s payroll, noted Ken Girardin, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute think tank.“Gov.

Kathy Hochul needs to use the bully pulpit and explain why the LIRR shouldn’t cave,’’ Girardin told The Post on Sunday, referring to the MTA’s contentious contract talks with five LIRR unions repping thousands of workers.“She can start by talking about how, thanks to inefficient union contracts, the LIRR had 11 employees last year collect over $200,000 each in overtime,” Girardin said.“The LIRR workers are already the best compensated transit workers in the United States,” he said.Among the commuter railroads’ top OT kings are:By comparison, Hochul makes $250,000 annually as governor of the state of New York, a post that also makes her the de facto boss of the LIRR.Espinosa, meanwhile, was fingered last year as one of three dozen LIRR workers who allegedly used a fake ID scheme to avoid work while still getting paid, according to a probe conducted by MTA Inspector General Daniel Cort.In 2021, The Post wrote a series of stories about OT fraud at the LIRR, which resulted in federal indictments and “OT King” Thomas Caputo getting sentenced to eight months in prison after copping to fraud theft that netted him thousands of dollars.The Empire Center for Public Policy, for years, has highlighted massive OT at the MTA’s agenci...