Erie County Executive Chris Collins has installed an electronic swipe-card system for employees in the Rath County Office Building to prevent them from cheating on their hours.

Collins freed his department heads from the system, and they come and go as they please, county auditors found.

“This is a clear example of ‘Do as I say, not as I do,’ ” County Comptroller Mark C. Poloncarz said Wednesday about his audit of the Erie County payroll. “It sets an incredibly bad example for the county work force and violates multiple county and state laws and regulations.”

But Personnel Commissioner John W. Greenan responded that virtually all department heads work more than 40 hours a week without being eligible for overtime.

County commissioners and department heads have never had to track their time because of the variety of their schedules and the fact they might start their workday at sites outside the office, he added.

The auditors said they found more than 40 Collins appointees not using the swipe card, including several who do not lead departments.

Greenan explained that several on the auditors’ list only recently moved into the Rath Building and are not yet set up with the electronic system. Abut 20 members of the county attorney’s staff, for example, recently moved to new quarters on the top floor after vacating rented space on Delaware Avenue in a move to cut costs.

While auditors said they found spotty compliance among the attorneys, Greenan said those employees will be expected to swipe in and out.

The county’s appointees and elected officials who do not currently account for their hours will have to do so for three months next year to justify their status under the state retirement system. Under new state rules, those who want to accrue full-time retirement benefits will have to provide records showing they are full-time, or nearly full-time, employees.

Collins wants to expand the electronic system to other county government buildings. Right now, employees outside the Rath Building sign time sheets.

The audit found more than 100 employees in 25 departments not taking regular lunch hours. The auditors figured that all those workers are not surrendering their lunch breaks but are instead leaving their work stations without recording their departures.

They also are making themselves eligible for bonuses. Workers whose schedules do not regularly provide for a one-hour lunch can collect $275 a year or take three paid days off.

Copyright 2009, The Buffalo News