NEW YORK CITY (PIX11) — A New York City Transit employee served an unpaid suspension after racking up more than $300,000 from undisclosed side hustles, MTA Inspector General Daniel G. Cort announced Thursday.
The employee has worked as an overnight structure maintainer of subway tunnels for NYC Transit since 2012, but took on side work from at least nine private businesses between April 2020 and July 2024, an investigation revealed.
The employee violated his job’s rest requirement at least 32 times and did not disclose the side gigs as NYC Transit requires, according to Cort’s report.
“This employee’s behavior jeopardized both his safety and the safety of others,” said Cort. “Outside employment rules exist for good reason: to safeguard the system, its workforce, and its customers; to avoid conflicts of interest; and to prevent time abuse.”
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In one instance, the structure maintainer took on side work installing windscreens on an NYC Transit project, but did not submit a dual employment request until the inspector general subpoenaed his outside employers, according to the MTA inspector general’s report.
While the maintainer admitted he knew he needed outside employment approval, the inspector general found no record of his having previously submitted a form.
Following the investigation, the maintainer was suspended for 5 months without pay and issued a final warning, while his supervisor was also instructed on how to handle employee requests for dual employment.
Dominique Jack is a digital content producer from Brooklyn with more than five years of experience covering news. She joined PIX11 in 2024. More of her work can be found here.
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