BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) – The health commissioner of Erie County has earned more than $52,000 of overtime through the first quarter of 2021, according to a new report by the Erie County Comptroller.
The report says Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein earned $52,274 in overtime during the first ten weeks of 2021. She earned $183,000 in overtime last year in addition to her annual salary of $202,000.
Erie County 1st Quarter Overtime Report by Mike Baggerman on Scribd
The report has renewed criticisms of some of the highest paid employees in Erie County. Erie County Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw called the overtime pay a "gravy train" for political appointees.
"The Health Commissioner made more in overtime for ten weeks of work, than most blue-collar families earn in one full year," Mychajliw said.
"Adding insult to injury, Dr. Burstein is raking in almost $150 an hour to give COVID shots on weekends."
Mychajliw, citing the New York State Nurses Association, said nurses are being paid on average of $57.53 per overtime hour to administer vaccines. He said Burstein is earning nearly three times what other qualified people are being paid to provide that same service.
Other high-level employees in Erie County, including Erie County Sheriff Undersheriff John Greenan, Sheriff Superintendent Thomas Diina, Emergency Services and Homeland Security Deputy Commissioner Gregory Butcher, have also earned thousands in in overtime. The $12,453 earned by Greenan is the second most among all county employees. The Erie County Sheriff's Office saw 13 employees alone earn a total of $67,591, though this includes stadium pay according to the report. Not including stadium pay, the top ten earners of the sheriff's office earned $23,587.
"The command staff members listed in the comptroller's report are still dealing COVID-19 requirements for an agency with over 1000 employees," a spokesman for the sheriff's office said. "Additionally, the Sheriff's Office is still deploying special details for COVID operations, including working with the County's Department of Health. The Sheriff's Office is also in the planning stages to provide inmates with vaccinations and is providing vaccines for Sheriff's employees and other first responder agencies.
Elected officials are not able to earn overtime.
The overtime paid comes from the $160 million in federal CARES Act funding for Erie County. According to the report, some employees were hired specifically for tasks devoted to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, who appointed Burstein, has defended her for her work over the last year which includes leading the entire health department. Poloncarz said last year there were people who would regularly work 12-hour days for several months at a time. He said then there were times that Burstein and him exchanged emails as late as 3 a.m.
"We did change the overtime rules so that an individual would not be eligible for overtime until such time they worked a number of compensatory hours that were credited toward their compensatory bank," Poloncarz said Tuesday.
Those in appointed positions in the county receive time off at a rate of time-and-a-half if they worked more than 40 hours in a week with a cap of 200 hours. After the 200 hours, they can earn paid overtime for hours worked beyond 40. If at the end of the year, the employee has more than 80 hours banked in compensatory time, they will be paid for those hours to bring the bank down to 80 hours.
The report says Burstein worked 352 hours in paid overtime hours. All other appointed positions worked less than 150 hours in overtime.
There were efforts last year by county lawmakers to address the overtime controversy. Last July, they met to discuss the issue but there has been little talk since.
"Whether it's overtime for Dr. Gale Burstein or overtime for the sheriff's office, I want to know why exactly we still have the need for it?" Legislative Minority Leader Joe Lorigo said. "After we all agreed on (a conversation), that meeting was called, the chairwoman of the legislature cancelled it and never said another word about it."
Lorigo claims Chairwoman April Baskin doesn't want to make the county executive, who authorized overtime payments come from the CARES Act funds, look bad.
A message to Baskin for this story was not returned.
There is a resolution in the Erie County Legislature that was submitted last July 21 by the majority to address the overtime for managerial employees during the state of emergency. There is no text in the resolution.
