Audit Objective 

Determine whether Putnam Northern Westchester County Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) officials ensured non-instructional employee overtime was properly monitored, approved and accurately calculated. 

Key Findings 

The Board of Education (Board) did not always ensure non-instructional employee overtime was properly monitored, approved or calculated. 

The 15 highest overtime earners received overtime totaling $254,820 during the audit period. Our review determined BOCES officials may have been able to reduce overtime by up to $28,337, or almost 11 percent. BOCES officials: 

• Paid a total of $66,295 to 13 employees for work on Saturdays that included $22,091 additional pay for working overtime on a Saturday. However, the BOCES Classified Employees’ Association collective bargaining agreement (CBA) supports a Tuesday through Saturday work week. Therefore, this overtime may have been avoided if some employees worked Tuesday through Saturday, as outlined by the CBA. 
• Paid $5,445 to employees who charged a full day to their leave accruals while working a partial day. Had employees only charged leave for the hours not worked, the overtime payments may have been avoided or reduced. 
• Made overtime calculation errors totaling $408 and paid $393 in overtime that was not approved. 

Key Recommendations 

• Adopt written policies and procedures to convey management’s expectations for reviewing, approving and supporting overtime. 
• Ensure overtime is properly monitored. 

BOCES officials generally agreed with our recommendations and indicated they plan to initiate corrective action.