Texas state schools for developmentally disabled paid millions in overtime wages, but 53 deaths occurred because of "lapses in care"

From The Dallas Morning News:

State employees who care for Texans with profound disabilities were paid millions of dollars in overtime last year, in some cases working the equivalent of a month's worth of 13-hour days, according to a review of payroll data by The Dallas Morning News.

The findings highlight a system in which employees work significantly long hours, sometimes with no choice, in high-stress, low-wage environments.

The U.S. Justice Department said in December that as many as 53 deaths in Texas state schools occurred because of "lapses in care." Six former employees face criminal charges after being accused of forcing residents at the Corpus Christi State School to fight one another for staff amusement.

"Your judgment gets impaired when you don't sleep properly," said Christine L. Williams, a University of Texas sociology professor who studies workplace issues, including low-wage workers. "And when you put people in a situation where they are having to care for others, that's a disaster in the making."

More than 77 percent of the $15 million in overtime paid by the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, which supervises state care for the mentally and physically disabled, went to "mental retardation assistants," the newspaper's analysis showed.

The entry-level employees, known as MRAs, constitute the majority of state school employees and earn, on average, about $22,000 annually. In 2008, more than 5,500 of the estimated 6,400 MRAs were paid overtime, some nearly $42,000, the analysis revealed.

MRAs at the 13 state schools perform duties such as bathing, grooming and protecting from injury the estimated 4,600 residents. Although some residents are more independent, many have severe medical conditions necessitating around-the-clock attention, such as swallowing disorders, seizures and mental illness requiring medication.

Among The News' findings:

•Overtime expenses for the agency increased nearly 25 percent from 2007 to 2008.

•Overtime earnings in 2008 increased the total pay of two MRAs to more than $70,000.

•Overtime bumped the total pay for four others to more than $60,000, and 19 MRAs earned more than $50,000 with overtime.

•Among all Texas state employees, two of the top four overtime earners in Texas worked for the Department of Aging and Disability Services: an administrative assistant, who was said to be trained in several areas and earned about $52,000 in overtime, and a licensed vocational nurse, who was paid more than $48,000 in overtime.

Jim Branson, lead organizer with the Texas State Employees Union, said state schools are so short-staffed that employees are threatened with firing if they don't agree to work overtime.

"If they don't have coverage at the end of their shift, they're told to do it [work overtime] or get fired," said Branson, who works closely with state school employees. "I know people who have asked to go pick up their kids at the end of the day, and been told, 'You stay or you lose your job.' "

Agency spokesman Michael Jones disputed that claim, saying, "There are exceptions given to family situations and people who have child-care needs."

However, the agency did acknowledge that it regularly requires employees to work overtime.

"There are going to be times when a staff person is required to work overtime. That's part of the job. And it's explained very clearly when someone goes to work for us," aid spokeswoman Laura Albrecht.

Most overtime is required when someone doesn't show up for a shift or is sick, she said, adding that it was common for employees to seek overtime opportunities. But there are cases in which volunteers aren't available and workers are forced to stay longer.

"We just can't leave residents without care," Albrecht said. "That can be a reason you are dismissed, if you abandon your job."

A longtime direct care state school employee, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, told The News he routinely works 12- to 16-hour days.

Staffing levels at state schools are so low, the employee said, that higher-level employees with advanced degrees are being forced to work overnight shifts. If workers refuse to stay and cover extra shifts, they can be written up, the employee said.

"A lot of the overtime is spent on after-hours supervision. What we are now are high-paid security guards," he said.

Samantha L. Wilson, who works as a mental retardation assistant at the Denton State School, was paid $6,377 in overtime and $2,156 in base salary for September 2008. According to the department's calculation, she worked 235 hours of overtime that month.

In May 2008, Dennis D. Gotcher, also an MRA in Denton, was paid $6,531 in overtime and a base salary of $1,899. He worked 223 hours of overtime that month, the department said. Attempts to reach Wilson and Gotcher for comment were unsuccessful; phone numbers listed in their names were either incorrect or disconnected.

In both cases, their checks included money for overtime worked in previous pay periods, department officials said. That's because of an accounting method, which the Department of Aging and Disability Services says is common across all state agencies, that allows workers to be paid for overtime at a later date, instead of in the next payroll check, they said.

All of which means that employees can be forced to work overtime for pay that may have to come later.

"Obviously, the managers have to be involved because again, they're running a 24-hour facility and you've got a certain amount of budget," Jones said. "So you may have enough money to pay it all at one time if it's a smaller balance. If it's a larger balance, they may need to stretch it out over longer periods of time."

The U.S. Labor Department declined to comment on the state's overtime practices and directed queries to the Texas Workforce Commission, which did not return calls seeking comment.

Dennis Finn earned more than $70,000 as an MRA at the Austin State School in 2008, more than half of that in overtime pay. That made him the third-ranked overtime earner among all mental retardation assistants in Texas.

"It's called survival," Finn said. "I'm 57 years old and getting in those years where you're about to retire one of these days and you need as much money as you can get a hold of."

Only two other MRAs earned more overtime than Finn during 2008. Mexia State School MRAs Debbie Y. Favors earned $41,754 in overtime and Mary A. Johnson earned $39,486 in overtime, payroll data show. They could not be reached for comment because phone numbers listed in their names were either incorrect or disconnected.

Finn said he is always given the choice whether to work the extra hours and is never forced to take overtime. However, he said a new agency limit on the number of overtime hours an employee can work in a month means more employees might have to work hours "they're not really crazy about."

Department officials say that they're trying to curb overtime costs and that overtime in the fiscal year's second quarter had decreased over the first quarter.

Most of the 1,700 new state school employees whom lawmakers funded in the last legislative session have been hired, and the department is asking for a 10 percent pay raise this year for direct care staff.

But, the department says, extra hours come with the job.

"You look at the system that we work in, with it being 24/7, 365 days a year, and we have to have coverage. There is going to be overtime," Albrecht said. "Any organization that must provide continuous care to individuals with complex needs will naturally incur overtime expenses."

Branson, the workers' union official, said higher base salaries, not just more workers, are what's needed. Most state school employees earn "poverty level wages," he said, and many take on a lot of overtime because they can't feed their families on $20,000 a year.

Turnover among MRAs averages 52 percent a year, according to department records.

"These jobs are incredibly high stress, and incredibly low pay, which all contributes to high turnover rates," Branson said. "It's a destructive combination."

Lawmakers say the overtime in state schools is wasteful and dangerous.

Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, said the same problem exists in the state's corrections systems, where prisons are so short-staffed their guards are forced to work tedious, and expensive, overtime shifts. Pitts, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said he intended to address the problems of state schools in this year's budget.

"Whether it's hiring more people or pay raises," he said, "we'll do whatever we need to do to solve this problem."

Sen. Steve Ogden, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said the committee is not considering salary increases for state school workers but he was open to that idea.

One solution that is being considered involves capping state school enrollment and freezing admissions, said Ogden, R-Bryan. The committee is considering limiting state school population to 350 per facility to allow the Department of Aging and Disability Services to get better control over staffing and to divert more funds into community-based care.

"Lots of problems would be alleviated" by taking such action, Ogden said. "The state schools tend to have a disproportionate number of problems as the population grows."