Ottawa’s auditor general is raising concerns about overtime spending at OC Transpo, saying there is limited evidence for some of the overtime being paid and “limited monitoring” of the extra pay and hours of work by employees. A report from the Office of the Auditor General makes several recommendations for OC Transpo to “improve and increase the effectiveness of processes that support the administration of overtime,” including establishing the rationale for overtime, more “formal proactive measures” to identify Hours of Service violations and automating the booking approach across all transit departments. The report will be discussed at the audit committee meeting on Tuesday. The City of Ottawa incurred $61.7 million in overtime costs in 2024 and $70.3 million in OT costs in 2025. According to the report, OC Transpo spent $44.4 million on overtime over the past two years. Auditor General Nathalie Gougeon and her team reviewed overtime worked between Jan. 1, 2024, and Dec. 31, 2025. Gougeon says the “more significant issues related to overtime” were found at OC Transpo. “Overtime has become a significant and ongoing part of OC Transpo’s operations, largely due to persistent staffing shortages and the challenges of maintaining an aging fleet,” Gougeon noted. “The review noted opportunities to improve and increase the effectiveness of processes that support the administration of overtime. These include improving documentation to support the rationale for overtime and how it was awarded (i.e. based on seniority), as well as implementing processes and leveraging system functionalities to proactively identify and manage Hours of Service violations.” The report says there was “limited monitoring” of overtime being conducted across various OC Transpo departments, and management has been “continuing, year-over-year, to inadequately budget for overtime.” Gougeon says the review identified there is a reliance on manual processes to track overtime, which increases the risk of error. “Greater use of technology and system functionality would help improve decision-making, reduce administrative burden, and strengthen controls,” the report said. “We also identified areas for management to consider as they continue to review and improve processes to efficiently manage overtime and demonstrate value for money. This includes assessing and automating the booking approach across all OC Transpo service areas and improving the use of technology to minimize manual processes.” Gougeon notes maintenance staff are being offered double time until November 2026 for overtime shifts. Rationale of overtime Gougeon says there are “several reasons” why overtime can be incurred within OC Transpo based on operational requirements. The audit looked at a sample of overtime transactions to assess whether overtime was based on an operational requirement, that the rationale for the overtime was documented and whether it was offered to staff based on required qualifications and in alignment with seniority. “From available documentation, we could not consistently identify the rationale for the overtime hours or how it was offered,” the report says. According to Gougeon’s report: When it comes to the rationale of overtime, Gougeon’s office is recommending OC Transpo General Manager Rick Leary establish and communicate requirements for documenting the rationale for overtime and that OT shifts are being offered based on seniority. Hours of Service The auditor general is recommending OC Transpo establish more formal proactive measures to identify potential Hours of Service violations, noting most operators are working more than the permitted hours due to overtime. The collective agreement for OC Transpo states employees who exceed 130 hours of working within a bi-weekly pay period are not eligible for further overtime “unless there are no other qualified employees available.” Employees are responsible for managing their Hours of Service compliance. While the auditor general says they did not identify any Hours of Service violations in the sample of overtime transactions reviewed, “in 50 per cent of our sample, the employees worked more than 130 hours in a bi-weekly period.” For O-Train Line 1 operators, the auditor general found seven per cent of the files sampled contained Hours of Service violations and seven per cent had worked more than 130 hours in a two-week period. For fleet maintenance workers, 23 per cent of employees looked at had Hours of Service violations and 37 per cent worked more than 130 hours in the two-week pay period. Overtime approval OC Transpo is being urged to reinforce with supervisors and time administrators that all timesheets should be approved by a supervisor before being entered into the system and that a system-based approval for OT is set up. The auditor general said five per cent of bus operators and 26 per cent of maintenance workers reviewed had no “evidence of supervisory approval” on the timesheet, while seven per cent of rail operators had a discrepancy between the hours paid per SAP and the actual hours worked. “Insufficient evidence of approval of overtime does not enable the City to demonstrate that the overtime paid was justified and appropriate,” the auditor general said.
