A three-year investigation found that a group of Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) workers manufactured, sold and used cloned swipe cards to get paid while not working, the MTA Office of the Inspector General announced on Thursday.
According to the investigation, a “culture of fraud and time abuse” thrived at three LIRR facilities that included the use of duplicate ID cards to swipe colleagues in or out when they were not present. A total of 36 employees – including seven supervisors with the title of gang foreman – committed “various acts of misconduct” at the Ronkonkoma, Richmond Hill and West Side locations, the OIG found.
The watchdog’s investigation led to disciplinary actions, including suspensions and resignations, against the accused employees, who were not publicly named.
The probe began in 2022 with an anonymous complaint that a Ronkonkoma gang foreman possessed a duplicate ID card and was not on the Ronkonkoma property when he was swiped in by a fellow employee.
According to the investigation, one gang foreman warned employees not to discuss the cards, saying, “What happens at K.O. [Ronkonkoma] stays at K.O.” Another gang foreman responded, “They can’t do nothing to us.”
In another instance, a gang foreman swiped in for a weekend overtime shift wearing a bathing suit and flip flops and told employees he supervised, “Don’t bother looking for me. I’ll be next to my pool with a margarita,” the probe revealed.
“These employees, including supervisors who should have been enforcing the rules, stole countless hours of paid time,” Investigator General Daniel Cort said. “The investigation revealed a widespread lack of ethics and contempt for the timekeeping regulations in these LIRR facilities.”
None of the implicated employees fully cooperated with the investigation, the OIG said.
“I hope that our investigation and the serious punishments handed down by LIRR management will help combat the culture of corruption that has festered for too long at these facilities,” Cort said.
The investigation also found employees regularly leaving their work sites for extended periods of time in the middle of their shifts, and leaving early nearly every day.
According to an article in Newsday, the Suffolk County District Attorney did not have enough evidence to bring charges against the accused employees. A spokesperson for the Queens District Attorney said in the article that “cannot confirm or deny the existence of any investigation” into allegations of time fraud at the LIRR’s Richmond Hill facility.
However, LIRR president Rob Free said what the employees did “was nothing short of corrupt” and elaborated on the executed disciplinary actions.
“A dozen employees who retired or resigned were made to forfeit hundreds of thousands of dollars, while others were suspended up to nine months without pay,” he said. “I will not allow a few unscrupulous employees to damage the reputation of thousands of hard-working LIRR colleagues. Through enhanced technology and aggressive oversight, we are ensuring that everyone is fully accountable for reporting only time actually worked.”
The OIG report is part of a broad investigation involving time abuse at LIRR facilities, which included reports published in May and June 2025.
