Metro Costs For Overtime Are Up 56% Since 2002

Working overtime allowed some bus drivers and train operators to nearly double their salaries last year, the equivalent of working an extra 36 hours every week. In 2006, the top-earning hourly worker was a train operator who received a salary of $77,893 and made $72,304 in overtime, for a paycheck of $150,197. The highest paid Metrobus operator had a $74,527 salary and $68,716 in overtime, for a paycheck of $143,243.

In 2003 and 2004, Metro increased its services -- and work hours -- by staying open later on weekends, opening earlier on weekdays and performing more maintenance on weekends. Three rail stations also opened.

"You've got Nationals games, Wizards games. You have cherry blossoms, the Redskins, and they haven't been able to staff properly," said Esker C. Bilger Jr., the union's financial secretary.

Retirements and maintenance work also helped increase overtime costs 17 percent last year over the previous year because of more track work and railcar carpet replacement, all of which had to be done on weekends and paid at overtime, agency officials said.

A regular workweek is 40 hours, but most bus and rail operators work more because almost no runs fit into neat, eight-hour chunks. So if a bus driver usually works a 47-hour week, for instance, his vacation pay would mimic his regular pay: 40 hours at straight time, plus seven hours of overtime, Roth said.

Vacation pay for "extra board" workers is calculated based on the average of their previous four workweeks, including scheduled overtime. The rationale, Roth said, is that workers should not take a pay cut when they go on vacation.

"I think it is a very generous benefit," said Catoe, who was surprised to learn about the provision. "The union did a very good job."

Catoe said it will take time to make changes. "There will always be people who make high salaries based on seniority," he said. "The question is, how many people are making it, are we controlling it correctly and do we have sufficient number of positions."

Overtime affects the agency's long-term costs, too, because pensions are based on the total number of hours worked, a common practice among transit agencies. Metro uses workers' four highest earning years. As a result, some retirees get pension checks bigger than the base pay they received while working. Managers say this encourages workers nearing retirement to increase overtime to boost pension benefits, which the union disputes.

Darrell Allison, 53, a bus driver, has been working for Metro for 27 years. As an "extra board" driver, he makes about $87,000 a year, a third of which comes from overtime pay. He said he needs it to support his family.

"Most of us would have to find some other type of job, not because you're living in extravagant style," he said. "It's to make ends meet."

Staff database editor Sarah Cohen and researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.