State workers compiled $46 million in overtime, comp pay in fiscal 2019

CARSON CITY, Nev. — State employees racked up $46.23 million in overtime and comp-time pay in fiscal 2019, just a hair less than in the previous year.

As usual, the agencies with the highest total OT and comp pay were the Department of Corrections at $12.4 million and the Department of Health and Human Services at $11.7 million.

State Finance Director Susan Brown, who presented a report on payroll for the 2019 fiscal year (July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019) during the Nevada Board of Examiners meeting Sept. 10, said those two departments account for just over half the state's total.

The total for corrections is lower than the $14.4 million the department amassed in fiscal 2018, but HHS saw its total increase from just over $11 million a year ago.

They are followed by the Department of Public Safety, which racked up just over $8 million in OT and comp-time pay for the year. That too is an increase from the $7.6 million a year earlier.

Next on the list is the Department of Transportation, where workers accumulated $5.65 million in overtime and comp-time pay. The total was $5.2 million.

The only other department over the $1 million mark in fiscal 2019 was Conservation and Natural Resources at $2.98 million, down a hair from the previous fiscal year's $3.06 million.

Overtime and comp-time pay account for 4.3 percent of the $1.084 billion total payroll listed in the state's report.

The most common reasons for the overtime are covering annual and military leave and covering vacant and holiday shifts, according to Brown's report to the Board of Examiners.