A two-year investigation has uncovered widespread time fraud among maintenance staff on New York’s Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), raising questions over the effectiveness of swipe-card time and attendance systems.
A total of 36 people, including seven foremen responsible for inspecting, repairing and cleaning LIRR’s fleet of electric and diesel trains, were found to have routinely taken time off by getting colleagues to clock them in and out using cloned ID cards.
LIRR, owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), runs from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Long Island. There are 126 stations on the line used by some 325,000 passengers a day.
The investigation by the Office of the MTA Inspector General (OIG) uncovered a “culture of fraud and time abuse” at three LIRR yards: Ronkonkoma, Richmond Hill, and West Side.
‘They can’t do nothing to us’
One foreman warned employees not to discuss the cards, saying, “What happens at KO [Ronkonkoma] stays at KO”, OIG said yesterday. Another foreman responded, “they can’t do nothing to us”.
In one brazen display, a gang foreman swiped in for a weekend overtime shift wearing a bathing suit and flip flops and told colleagues: “Don’t bother looking for me. I’ll be next to my pool with a margarita.”
The investigation, conducted between 2022 and 2024 – with the final report released yesterday – found that employees regularly left their work sites for extended periods of time in the middle of their shifts.
One was found to have gone to the gym 198 times while still on the clock for his shifts.
Others were found to have left early nearly every day.
Cloned card market
The fake cards were made using machines bought on Amazon in a locker room and inside personal cars on LIRR property.
The cards were then sold to colleagues for prices ranging from $5 to $40.
Of the 36 staff investigated, 12 have resigned or retired, including eight who did so after disciplinary charges had been filed against them.
Of those still working, LIRR took nearly all out of service without pay and handed down unpaid suspensions ranging from two to nine months for those who waived administrative trials.
Three employees were also demoted.
“These employees, including supervisors who should have been enforcing the rules, stole countless hours of paid time,” said MTA Inspector General Daniel G Cort.
“The investigation revealed a widespread lack of ethics and contempt for the timekeeping regulations in these LIRR facilities.”
LIRR told OIG that it had implemented fraud-prevention measures, including biometric scans for timekeeping and additional cameras.
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