Payroll problems in the prison system
In some Pennsylvania prisons, reports have surfaced indicating that guards are bypassing promotions because they are already making more than their superiors in overtime pay.
Higher-ups were not the best paid employees last year at the State Correctional Institution Pittsburgh where corrections officers were outearning superintendents, majors, captains and lieutenants. One officer brought his $51,000 base salary all the way up to $139,571 with leave pay, shift differentials and overtime wages.
Nearly all of the 23 employees who earned over $100,000 last year at Woods Run prison were corrections officers or sergeants. Only two were not and the best-paid captain earned just $88,000.
"When you have good quality officers who are not even willing to take the test [to become lieutenants] because they don't want to take a pay cut in a promotion, what happens then is perhaps the people who do get the promotions aren't the best qualified," said state Senator David Argall.
Argall is the author of legislation that could correct problems in the payroll structure that are rewarding this behavior, which he believes to be a public safety problem. To gain control sooner, correctional facilities could implement employee tracking services to monitor and better enforce overtime policies.
Higher-ups were not the best paid employees last year at the State Correctional Institution Pittsburgh where corrections officers were outearning superintendents, majors, captains and lieutenants. One officer brought his $51,000 base salary all the way up to $139,571 with leave pay, shift differentials and overtime wages.
Nearly all of the 23 employees who earned over $100,000 last year at Woods Run prison were corrections officers or sergeants. Only two were not and the best-paid captain earned just $88,000.
"When you have good quality officers who are not even willing to take the test [to become lieutenants] because they don't want to take a pay cut in a promotion, what happens then is perhaps the people who do get the promotions aren't the best qualified," said state Senator David Argall.
Argall is the author of legislation that could correct problems in the payroll structure that are rewarding this behavior, which he believes to be a public safety problem. To gain control sooner, correctional facilities could implement employee tracking services to monitor and better enforce overtime policies.
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