Overtime on State Payroll Jumps 21%

Total overtime-related payments to New York State employees surged 21 percent to $1.64 billion, according to new 2025 payroll data posted today on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s government transparency website.

102 employees collected more than $200,000 in overtime payments alone, more than quadrupling the previous year’s tally of 23 individuals. Ninety-three of them were correctional officers at the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS). Throughout the state payroll, the number of six-figure overtime earners rose to 1,504, more than doubling since 2024 (610).

The top overtime recipient was Juan Soto, a corrections lieutenant at Cayuga Correctional Facility, who collected $442,633 in overtime for a total pay of $583,015. Some of the other overtime leaders were:

• Jeffrey Rorick (Five Points Correctional Facility), who collected $415,907 in overtime for a total pay of $552,880.
• James Spinner (Upstate Correctional Facility), $358,765 in overtime for a total pay of $493,204.
• Justin Riel (Washington Correctional Facility), $332,822 in overtime for a total pay of $466,936.

State employees are paid overtime at different rates depending on their work schedule and circumstances. Standard overtime is paid at time-and-a-half (1.5 times base pay), while premium rates include double-time (2 times base pay rate) for shifts exceeding 16 hours and double-time-and-a-half (2.5 times base pay) for certain special conditions.

Top Overtime Earners

While the average overtime payment was $15,314, it was heavily concentrated among a small group of workers: The top 10 percent of overtime earners collected 48.2 percent of all overtime dollars ($793 million out of $1.64 billion). The top one percent alone took home nearly $160 million, representing 9.7 percent of all overtime paid.

8,406 employees collected more in overtime than their annual salary, enabling some to quadruple their total pay.

Overall, the data shows New York’s state government payroll last year swelled from $19.4 billion to $22.5 billion (7 percent increase), averaging $70,649 for its 85,832 employees. The figures do not reflect the cost of state benefits, including health care and state retirement, or employer payroll taxes.

New York State Government Payroll

DOCCS Overtime Explodes

The state’s largest employer, SUNY, paid out a total of $5.15 billion, including $111 million in overtime to its 74,537 employees.

However, it was the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) that drove the state’s overtime payroll growth, as overtime in the agency exploded by 54 percent to $711 million. The agency paid out a total of $2.5 billion to its 24,427 employees. The agency’s employees averaged $101,878, one-third of which ($34,320) was on overtime payments.

More than half of the 24,000 DOCCS employees received $100,000+ in total pay. The highest earning employees in the department, the 451 Corrections Lieutenants at the state’s 44 Correctional Facilities and subagencies, averaged $222,597 in total pay.

Average Pay for Correctional Officers

Among all agencies in the dataset, the State Police had the highest average pay of $128,893 for its 7,519 employees. The agency saw a 14% YoY rise in overtime pay to $125 million. The other agencies that had six-figure average pay were the Council on the Arts ($107,250 for 34 employees), the Financial Control Board ($106,984 for 12 employees), Department of Financial Services ($101,774 for 1,579 employees), Department of Employee Relations ($101,403 for 91 employees), and the Lt. Governor’s Office ($101,010 for 4 employees).

Among other major agencies, the Military and Naval Affairs’ payroll nearly doubled to $510 million, as their employee count nearly tripled 14,062 (4,845 in 2024). This dramatic increase was primarily the result of Governor Hochul placing thousands of New York National Guard members on State Active Duty to respond to the statewide prison strike in February and March of 2025.

Agency Distribution

Individual Payouts Reach Record Highs

The state’s sole income millionaire for 2025 was John King, the SUNY chancellor, who collected a total pay of $1.07 million.

A total of 2,450 employees were paid more than Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $250,000 salary.

One in four employees collected six-figure pay, rising 9 percent to 85,832. Of them, 104 collected over $500,000. On the other end of the spectrum, 93,881 employees (30%) earned less than $30,000 during the year.

Eighty-Six of the top 100 payees were employed by the SUNY system, which included 38 from Downstate Medical Center, 25 from SUNY Stony Brook and 10 from Stony Brook Hospital.

In addition to the C-suite executives and senior medical staff, the top earners also included two SUNY football coaches. Pete Lembo, SUNY Buffalo’s head football coach was the highest earning coach, collecting $881,272. William Cosh, SUNY Stony Brook’s head football coach, was paid a total of $558,759.

Not all state workers are on regular salaries. 3,868 ‘fee basis’ employees, typically paid per event or day, collected state paychecks. While most earned modest amounts (averaging $7,871), some did remarkably well: Braulio Baeza, a steward for the State Gaming Commission, earned $189,833 on a fee basis.

Top 100 Highest Paid NYS Employees

The Empire Center, based in Albany, is an independent, not-for-profit, non-partisan think tank dedicated to promoting policies that can make New York a better place to live, work and raise a family.