Handful of State Workers Hit OT Jackpot

Who said state jobs don't pay well?

State overtime was down last year, but some workers still raked in major cash according to tax reocres.

Robert Henry topped the lis. Henry, who works for the Mid-Hudson Psychiatric Center, hauled in $100,500 in overtime on top of his $56,710 base salary. He also topped the list in 2004 and has made $800,000 in overtime over the last 10 years.

Henry is one of seven state employees who made more than $90,000 in overtime over the last year.

Three of them work at Pilgrim Psychiatric Center in West Brentwood, L.I., which had five of the top 20 overtime earners last year.

"Pilgrim Psychiatric Center is ... experiencing challenges in the recruitment and retention of registered nurses, resulting in the need for overtime," Jill Daniels, spokeswoman for the state Office of Mental Health, told Newsday.

State overtime dropped last year to $466 million, a 3.2 percent dip from the record $481.6 million in 2007. The state had seen double-digit percentage increases in recent years until 2008.

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