MTA suspends employee for moonlighting as professor during working hours for 4 years, fires her supervisors

NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — An MTA computer specialist was suspended and two of her supervisors fired after an investigation found that she had been working as an adjunct professor and teaching classes during her regular working hours for four years, utilizing the agency’s equipment to do so.

An investigation into the computer specialist was prompted in October 2022 by complaints from another employee that she made unauthorized phone calls and earned overtime pay on overseas vacations, which the MTA Inspector General found to be true, despite her not being eligible for remote work.

The investigation also revealed her second job as an adjunct professor, which she performed online and in person between Spring 2020 and Fall 2023. The computer specialist taught most of these courses during her MTA work hours, and some while using her MTA-issued laptop.

“For years, this employee had free rein to teach college classes during her workday without permission due to an alarming lack of supervision,” Inspector General Daniel G. Cort said.

Three supervisors were above the worker, and they did not know that she was leaving the MTA worksite to perform outside employment, using MTA resources to engage in her outside employment nor that she did not swipe out of the timekeeping system during her lunch break.

The Inspector General also said that two of the supervisors also had her telework during her scheduled vacation time because they did not train a backup to fulfill her tasks.

Her first supervisor, a former Deputy Chief Information Officer, and second supervisor, a Deputy Chief Technology Officer, were terminated in mid-April.

The computer specialist’s current supervisor, a product director for timekeeping and payroll, received a written warning and the computer specialist was given a 30-day unpaid suspension on June 25.

“All of the employees involved breached the public trust, and I commend the MTA for holding them accountable,” Cort said.