ROCKVILLE, Md. — Clocking overtime is a well-established way to boost the paycheck. But in Montgomery County, some employees are racking up more in overtime than they earn in their base pay.
According to new salary data released on dataMontgomery, a county website, more than 130 county employees took home at least $40,000 in overtime last year.
A corrections officer punched the clock the hardest, earning $122,000 in overtime pay.
The figures show an expansion among the highest overtime earners.
In 2012, 94 county workers earned at least $40,000 in overtime, according to The Washington Post.
Most of those are firefighters and corrections officers.
Six employees in the fire department were paid at least $90,000 each in overtime in 2013, the paper reports.
County officials here, as elsewhere, defend the use of overtime by saying the alternative of adding new hires would be more costly.
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