Baltimore IG investigates claims that contracted city workers were paid for excessive overtime

A Baltimore Inspector General (IG) investigation found that between 2022 and 2025, the Mayor's Office of Homeless Services (MOHS) paid contracted staff a total of $744,559 for 13,304 hours of overtime work. 

The investigation was launched after a complaint claimed two former vendor employees received compensation for excessive overtime hours that were not worked. 

According to the IG, the investigation was limited due to inconsistent documentation and the lack of a formal time verification system.

The IG ultimately recommended that MOHS review and develop procedures to document overtime work for contracted staff working in city shelters. 

Investigation into overtime complaints 

During the investigation, the IG found that the vendor provided MOHS with staffing for multiple shelters in the city. 

The city and the vendor entered into a contract in 2020 to provide additional support at winter shelters. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the contracted staff provided year-round support for two years, according to the IG report. 

After the pandemic, the contracted employees only worked during the winter shelter season. 

During the investigation, one of the vendor employees told the IG it was not unusual for staff to work 12- to 16-hour shifts for five consecutive days due to staffing shortages and urgent needs. 

The employee also reported that they regularly stayed overnight and took on additional responsibilities, like custodial tasks, which they felt justified the overtime hours. 

The IG's Office was not able to contact the second employee named in the complaint. 

Reviewing timecard documents

A document acquired by the Inspector General showed that one employee worked 257.75 overtime hours between Nov. 27, 2022, and Jan. 1, 2023, and was paid $25,518 for a total of 457 hours of work. 

A former MOHS supervisor confirmed that the hours were legitimate and said the high numbers were due to multiple site assignments, 24-hour operations, staffing shortages and seasonal demands. 

The former supervisor also said the employees listed in the document were among the few who were available more often than others, as many candidates would be unwilling to work evening and weekend shifts. 

According to the IG's report, the contracted MOHS employees logged their hours in a third-party system called Paycom. MOHS supervisors would then approve the entries before submitting them to the vendor for review. 

Once approved, the times would be recorded in the vendor's system and included in a monthly invoice. The invoices and timesheets were submitted to the city, according to the IG's report. 

The former supervisor told the IG that billing for the COVID-19 and winter shelters was merged into a single account. A vendor representative said the vendor was not able to approve the employee timesheets and said verifying the hours was the job of MOHS supervisors. 

Further investigation revealed that MOHS did not have a clock-in/clock-out system and that contracted staff recorded their hours in an on-site notebook. An MOHS supervisor then compared the entries with the hours submitted by staff through Paycom, according to the IG. 

The completed notebooks were put in an MOHS storage facility. However, a supervisor indicated that getting the notebooks was "problematic" as records were bundled together and not well labeled, the IG's report detailed. 

According to the IG, the notebooks in the storage facility were limited to a few shelters and included varying months and years. Overtime hours were not detailed or categorized, the IG said. 

During the investigation, the IG noted that reported overtime hours had declined since the vendor no longer provides year-round staffing. 

Following the investigation, MOHS began including overtime sections on sign-in sheets, according to the IG. 

Inspector General's recommendation 

The IG recommended that MOHS develop a system to document overtime for contracted staff. 

MOHS Executive Director Ernestina Simmons responded in a letter, saying the office had revised its timekeeping procedures and will review the time submitted by staff in Paycom by comparing it to physical documents. 

The IG noted that MOHS did not mention an updated method for maintaining physical records.