Bedford Hills prison nurse top OT earner in state | Bedford Hills Homes

A nurse at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women raked in more than $630,000 in overtime in less than five years, putting on her time cards she worked 192 days straight — or every day for more than six months — mostly in 16.5-hour overnight shifts, according to records obtained by The Journal News.

The registered nurse, 62-year-old Mercy Mathew of Pomona, was the state's highest overtime earner in 2012, netting $150,630 on top of her $58,468 salary at the state's only maximum security prison for women. She also snagged the title in 2009, when she made $171,814 in overtime.

According to her time cards, Mathew's designated work schedule was 3-11 p.m., but she routinely stayed until 7:30 a.m. the next morning without a break. On days off, she often collected 16.5 hours of overtime for a single shift. Mathew worked more than 90 percent of the available days between Dec. 18, 2008 and Sept. 4, 2013. Even though she resigned Oct. 11, 2013, she still managed to break into the top 20 overtime earners last year.

"She must have been the bionic nurse in her time to be able to work that many hours without any rest," said state Sen. Jeff Klein, D-Bronx, who represents part of lower Westchester County and has been a critic of wasteful spending by the state Department of Corrections.

"The time of giving state agencies a blank check has to end."

The Journal News obtained Mathew's time cards for calendar years 2009-2013 from the Department of Corrections in August after winning an appeal of a denial of its Freedom of Information Law request filed in January. Mathew, who is listed with the town of Haverstraw's assessor's office as owning a $443,000 home on Dunnigan Drive, could not be reached for comment. A reporter twice knocked on her door, but there was no answer, and tried to reach Mathew and her relatives numerous times by telephone.

Mathew's six-figure overtime compensation continued after the DOC told the state Senate in 2010 that it would curb its overtime spending at the Bedford Hills prison.


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http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/2014/10/17/bedford-hills-prison-nurse-states-top-ot-earner/17458853/