San Diego to Review Policies Regarding Overtime Pay of City Employees

The City Council's Audit Committee is scheduled today to review a performance audit of the city of San Diego's policies regarding overtime payment.

The audit issued Dec. 31 found that the vast majority of the $57.8 million in overtime paid to workers in Fiscal Year 2011 was appropriately earned, but the city could still have saved some money.

About $250,000 of the payments was the result of employees' errors when they listed comp time or annual leave in their overtime request forms, according to city Auditor Eduardo Luna, who recommended that the city clarify its overtime eligibility rules, train employees on the regulations and rework its overtime request forms.

City officials agreed with the recommendations in general but noted that some departments used customized forms based on their needs.

The city's overtime expenditure in fiscal 2011 was 2.6 percent of its $2.2 billion operating budget and made up 8 percent of all employee compensation. The audit found that the police, fire-rescue and public utilities departments accounted for 85 percent of all overtime payments.

The city pays time-and-a-half for extra hours worked, based on personnel laws and union agreements.

—City News Service