Mailroom workers padded time cards, stole from taxpayers: City Controller

Surveilance cameras caught employees in the City of Philadelphia’s mailroom adding overtime to their timecards without doing the work, according to city Controller Alan Butkovitz.

“Their timesheets were a complete farce when we compared them to our video surveillance,” Butkovitz said, CBS3 reported.

The investigation happened over eight weeks during December 2015 and January. Newsworks reported that the fraud cost taxpayers $5,000.

“This was conspired by the mail center’s supervisor and administrative officer who knowingly certified overtime for themselves and other mail center employees,” Butkovitz said.

“The supervisor was the most egregious example, as he knowingly certified 169 hours of overtime for 10 mail center employees that were not at the worksite costing in excess of $5,000.”

Butkovitz praised Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration for fixing the issue.

“There have been significant changes—it went from mailroom mayhem to mailroom management in a short period,” Butkovitz said.

The supervisor and administrator have since left their posts.Evidence has been referred to the city district attorney’s office for possible criminal charges against them.

Frank Breslin, who now oversees the mailroom operation for the city, said he appreciated the ongoing review of the mail center.

“Since April, we have made significant improvements to the center’s operation,” stated Breslin. “We have installed video cameras that allow remote monitoring; eliminated backlogs so that work is in now processed within two days of receipt; improved work flow and processes within the mail center; and altered USPS pickup times to allow more time for processing.

“These changes have led to a nearly 50 percent reduction in overtime in the center for the fourth quarter of FY16 compared to the same period in FY15,” he continued. “This is an ongoing process—more improvements are to come, and the administration is committed to seeing them through.”

City spokesman Mike Dunn told CBS3 that the city is considering punch-card time clocks and has already installed its own video cameras in the mail center.