MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - Imagine making an extra $50,000 a year in overtime. It's reality for a handful of Shelby County workers.
Shelby County lawyers didn't want to make finding this information easy, turning over almost 4,000 pages of payroll records to ABC 24.
You may be surprised to learn who's made the most overtime, and why.
James Coleman runs the Shelby County Correctional Facility. A mistake in how a policy was interpreted allowed corrections employees to rack up huge amounts of overtime. "I cannot condone why it was done," Coleman said.
Corrections officers at the prison made out with the some of the highest amounts of overtime for all Shelby County employees.
Gussie Mister ranked number one on the list in 2010. Her base pay was $34,000. Add $53,000 in overtime - that's nearly double her salary - and she brought home $88,000.
Daryl Nelson made $77,000 after being paid $42,000 in overtime on top of his $34,000 dollar salary.
Terry Elliot was also one of the top 5 overtime earners in Shelby County with more than $40,000 in OT. He made $76,000 working as a corrections officer, whose base salary is also $34,000.
"What happened was the most senior person was getting called everyday," Coleman explained. He said the former administration misinterpreted the rules, which meant the same people kept getting called for overtime.
We showed county taxpayers the overtime list.
Norma Greene told abc24.com, "I'd like to see other people get a chance to make some of the big money."
The truth is, for all the overtime being paid to corrections workers, additional employees could have been hired full time. As for the employees like Mister, who raked in an extra 50-grand in overtime, Coleman said, "I hope these individuals have not based their lifestyles on that."
Coleman said overtime is now being spread out evenly. But the question is, how did the former administration not notice just a handful of employees were raking in the OT, when a reporter with a computer could figure it out.
If you want Jeni DiPrizio to get the truth for you, send an email to thetruth@abc24.com.
