Purpose

To determine whether the MTA-NYC Transit Medical Assessment Centers performed medical examinations for NYC Transit and MTA Bus employees in an economical manner. The audit covered the period June 30, 2011 through October 9, 2013.

Background

The MTA has six operating constituent agencies; two of them, MTA Bus Company (MTA Bus) and New York City Transit (Transit), provide bus service. Transit issued a policy instruction which requires medical assessments for a broad selection of its employees. For example, bus drivers at MTA Bus are subject to Article 19-A of the New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law which requires that bus drivers meet certain requirements to obtain and retain the ability to operate a bus carrying passengers. One of the requirements is passing a medical examination every two years. Other assessments can be for pre-employment to determine if there is some medical reason that a person may not be qualified for a position, or for a promotion. For RBO employees these medical examinations and assessments are done at one of Transit’s five MAC locations. In addition, there is a 24-hour lab located in Downtown Brooklyn. Employees are assigned to a MAC according to their work location. If testing is needed, after regular business hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., an employee, regardless of location, will go to the 24-hour lab.

Key Findings

• On a unit cost basis, we determined that the MACs were not more costly than the contractor.
• There were widely varying practices in place at the 22 bus depots we visited. An employee could be paid as much as $360.22 at a depot that paid for a workday at overtime rates or as little as $86.28 at a depot that paid for three hours at regular pay.
• We determined that employees were not always assigned to the closest MAC. This practice cost about $151,000 during our audit period.

Key Recommendations

• Formally review the varying depot policies pertaining to time and attendance related to employees’ MAC visits.  As warranted, establish policies to ensure that time allotments for MAC visits are reasonable
• Formally review the depot assignments to their designated MACs. Adjust depot assignments as warranted.