By Jessica Hill
Las Vegas Review-Journal
LAS VEGAS — A state audit of the Nevada Department of Corrections found that officers clocked more than 38,000 hours of unknown overtime that cost the state $2.1 million in 2024.
The finding was part of an audit report conducted by the Division of Internal Audits in the governor’s finance office released July 29 and presented during an executive branch audit committee meeting.
According to Executive Branch Auditor Jasdeep Bains, the review found excessive overtime, outdated internal pay policies, inaccurate time keeping and improper application of pay times that cost the state up to $18.5 million annually.
In a statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Nevada Department of Corrections said it is working to curb its overtime numbers while prioritizing the safety and security of staff and offenders.
A nearly 65,000 percent increase
The review found that more than 38,000 hours of overtime in the 2024 fiscal year had a missing or unknown reason code, Bains said. That was a 64,983 percent increase from the 2020 fiscal year, when 58 hours of overtime was found to be missing a reason code, according to the report.
The Nevada Department of Corrections attributed the issue to inexperienced supervisory staff, according to the report.
Between 2020 and 2024, overtime increased by more than 508,000 hours and $35 million in paid and accrued overtime.
Most of that growth was concentrated in six facilities, including High Desert State Prison, Southern Desert Correctional Center and Ely State Prison, according to the report.
The increase in overtime comes at a time when offender populations have declined statewide by 13.5 percent, according to the report.
Bains told the executive branch audit committee that facility-level operational demands were the drivers of excessive overtime. Correctional officer vacancies and high turnover also have led to a reliance on overtime, she said.
In several cases, employees received overtime in the same week as taking sick leave, which is against the department’s internal pay policies that prohibit employees from working voluntary overtime if they call in sick during the same pay period.
Craig Stevenson, administrator with the budget division, told members of the committee that he didn’t think bad actors were at fault, but rather there are employees who “are occasionally gaming the system.” Stevenson found that some employees take a few hours off on a Monday and then end up working 40 hours or more the rest of the week.
“It might look or have the optics of their kind of gaming the system by working that overtime in the same week that they have leave,” Stevenson said.
Recommendations to improve
The Division of Internal Audits recommended that the department strengthen oversight of personnel and payroll practices, ensure time sheets are accurate and coded correctly, improve supervisory and payroll administrator oversight, reduce overtime and discourage overtime abuse, Bains said during the meeting.
It also recommended that the department continue its recruitment and retention efforts to stabilize staffing levels, improve retention, reduce turnover and thereby reduce reliance on overtime.
The Department of Corrections recently contracted with a consultant to study staffing, and Stevenson said he expects those results to help address vacancies and reduce overtime hours. The study specifically addresses issues with overtime shift coverage.
“We anticipate that will resolve some of those issues where employees are gaming the system,” Stevenson said.
The department also secured funding for pay grade increases and obtained additional benefits through legislative measures. It also succeeded with a collective bargaining agreement that contributed to a 34 percent reduction in vacancies and a 39 percent improvement in turnover in fiscal 2024, according to Bains.
Lombardo asked Director James Dzurenda if the department was taking proactive action to fix the coding issues with the payroll system. Dzurenda said new codes have been implemented, and the department started implementing training for the sergeants planning the schedules on how to appropriately code hours.
In 2024, nearly 94,000 overtime hours were attributed to medical escort duties, Bains said.
The Legislature approved 47 positions to help with transportation and guarding, Dzurenda said. Those additional positions will reduce overtime but will not cover the entire time spent escorting inmates to medical facilities and guarding hospital trips.
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