E-ZPass helped authorities bust a union official who was shirking work, according to the New York Daily News.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Inspector General’s office used records from E-ZPass, an electronic toll collection system, to prove that George Botts, vice president of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 726, was not performing his union duties.
Botts, who earned $32 an hour, was paying tolls when he should have been working inside a bus depot. As a union official, Botts, who is paid as a bus driver, was able to perform his work at the Staten Island-based bus depot instead of actually driving a bus, according to the New York Daily News Wednesday.
Botts arrived late to work and left early while obtaining his $32 an hour paycheck for work he never performed. From March 1 through May 20, Botts was paid for at least 66 hours of work that he never performed.
MTA, the nation’s largest transit authority serving New York City and its surrounding area, did not fire Botts for his apparent misdeeds. Instead, his union was able to get him a 30-day suspension with restitution after arbitrating the case.
“Falsifying time cards is akin to stealing money from the MTA and it is absolutely not tolerated,” MTA spokesperson Amanda Kwan told the Daily News. “The employee in this case was suspended for 30 days without pay and will have to pay back the money received for the time he falsely claimed to be working.”
The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to Butts and ATU Local 726 but did not hear back for comment.
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