An Albany think tank’s latest report on annual salaries paid to public employees in New York found 23 staffers collected more than $200,000 in overtime in 2024.
The Empire Center, which provides annual public payroll data on its government transparency website, SeeThroughNY, found 19 of those 23 employees worked for the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS), the agency roiled by correction officer strikes, staff shortages and inmate deaths.
According to the Empire Center, the data included in updated payroll data released on Friday covers a period before illegal strikes erupted in February 2025 and the state fired more than 2,000 correction officers.
The group’s analysis of 2024 payroll data showed the number of six-figure overtime earners rose to 610, up nearly 40% from 439 in 2023. More than half, 332, were from DOCCS, almost doubling the previous year’s tally of 173. In addition, the Office of Mental Health had 111 employees who collected more than six figures in overtime pay.
The top overtime recipient was Jeffrey Rorick, a corrections lieutenant at Five Points Correctional Facility, who collected $277,549 in overtime for a total pay of $405,424.
Other overtime leaders included:
• Denise Williams (Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center), who collected $267,686 in overtime for a total pay of $368,644
• Annu Bosco Varghese (Creedmoor Psychiatric Center), $259,055 in overtime for a total pay of $368,272
• William Atwood Jr. (Elmira Correctional Facility), $256,556 in overtime for a total pay of $379,092
Total overtime pay rose 11% year-to-year, climbing to $1.35 billion in 2024 from $1.21 billion in 2023 – undoing progress made since 2022 when overtime levels reached an all-time high of $1.4 billion. The state paid out an average of $12,733 in overtime to 105,947 employees. Of those, 7,319 collected more in overtime than their annual salary, enabling some to quadruple their total pay.
The data show New York’s state government payroll last year swelled from $19.4 billion to $21.0 billion (8 percent), averaging $71,288 for its 294,131 employees. The figures do not reflect the cost of state benefits, including health care and state retirement, or employer payroll taxes.
Last week, the Empire Center released its 2024 edition of What They Make — the annual report on New York’s local government payrolls covering employees in county, city, town, and village governments outside New York City.
Since 2008, Empire Center has made the payrolls and pensions for state and local government and school districts available and searchable on SeeThroughNY.