Robert Procida, NYC Plumber, Used Overtime Pay To Make Over $232K

Robert Procida could very well be one of the highest-paid plumbers in the United States.

Daily News reports that Procida was able to make approximately $232,459 in 2014 as a plumbing supervisor at the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA).

Keep in mind that Robert’s base pay, however, was less than 38 percent of that total amount – $88,288. The remaining $142,425 of his yearly earnings came directly from overtime pay.

To put his earnings for the year in perspective, the NYCHA chairperson nor the mayor of New York City made more money than Robert Procida in the 2014 fiscal year.

According to the report, Robert Procida was able to generate 1,481 hours of overtime – an equivalent of 37 additional workweeks.

Procida, along with four other NYCHA plumbers, worked their way to the top of the overtime list for their company during the same fiscal year, a list which added up to a payroll expense of $106 million for the authority.

Paying out that type of figure in overtime pay with a looming deficit of $77 million created a major problem for the agency.

Over the past six years, the average overtime pay figure experienced an exponential increase of more than 200 percent – from $2,578 in 2008 to $7,843 in 2014.

When compared with agencies that usually rack up substantial amounts of overtime pay (such as the NYPD and the FDNY), the NYCHA has reportedly had the fastest rate of increase.

Plumbers are already required to work daily shifts throughout the week, which is why all of the work that they do either after regular hours or even on the weekend lead to overtime accrual.

Robert Procida is in management, but even supervisors are required to work when one of their plumbers is on duty – which explains why Procida was able to generate so many overtime hours in such a relatively short period of time.

Ray Rondino, the political director of Local 1 within the Plumbers Union, claims that the ages of the buildings within the New York City Housing Authority have a lot to do with the high demand for plumbing services and repairs.

“It’s like having a bucket under the faucet. When the bucket fills up, you have to put another bucket under there. The work doesn’t stop coming.”

The New York City Housing Authority is expected to meet with Local 1 at the bargaining table on Tuesday.

Unless a decision is reached in regards to managing overtime hours and weekend work schedules accordingly, Robert Procida and many other NYCHA employees could find themselves having another big year of earnings in 2015 as well.

[Image Credit: Daily News]