A month after 25 Investigates exposed glaring overtime discrepancies at a MassDOT maintenance depot, new payroll records reveal an agency-wide drop in overtime that has saved Massachusetts taxpayers more than half a million dollars.
Statewide payroll records that Investigative Reporter Ted Daniel requested from the State Comptroller’s Office show that MassDOT overtime spending plummeted immediately after 25 Investigates released the results of a 7-month hidden camera probe.
The initial investigation focused on some of the state’s highest paid highway maintenance workers at a MassDOT depot in Charlestown. Undercover cameras documented employees leaving the depot before they completed the 16-hour shifts, claimed on official time sheets.
Among those highlighted was Dana Bell, who pulled in $228,000 in 2025, with $137,000 of that total coming from overtime.
To date, Bell and six other MassDOT employees assigned to MassDOT’s District 6 have resigned in the wake of the scandal. However, the impact of the story appears to be reverberating in all six districts where MassDOT operates across the state.
According to the Comptroller’s data, MassDOT overtime costs had been climbing through March and April of this year, peaking at $1,672,421.78 during the pay period that ended on May 16th.
In the two previous pay periods, the agency shelled out $1,540,510.02 (April 18) and $1,609,422.35 (May 2) in overtime.
After the 25 Investigates story aired, spending fell steeply. In the very first bi-weekly pay period following the widely viewed report, MassDOT’s statewide overtime spending plummeted nearly 20 percent, dropping to $1,349,152.91 (5/30). That’s a savings of $323,268.87 compared to the pay period right before the report.
MassDOT spent $527,604 less on overtime compared to its mid-May peak when the June 16 pay period is included.
“I’m not surprised,” said Paul Craney, Executive Director of the Mass Fiscal Alliance, a government watchdog group based in Boston.
“I think they’re probably hearing from everywhere right now that this type of behavior in their agency is not acceptable. It shows me that this agency and state government can actually trim its budget pretty quickly when they want to.”
Immediately following the initial broadcast, State Highway Director Jonathan Gulliver sent an email to regional supervisors ordering a review of overtime practices with a concentration on high earners.
When questioned about the sudden decline of 4,463 overtime hours from one pay period to the next, a MassDOT spokesperson pointed to increased scrutiny. The agency noted increased field monitoring by supervisors, the accelerated deployment of new digital overtime tracking technology, and a pre-planned pause on lower-priority maintenance work around Foxborough where World Cup matches are being played.
In a statement, MassDOT announced that its “investigators will also be expanding their review of overtime practices, oversight, and workforce tracking...” across all operating divisions.
“I think they’re very sensitive right now to people looking at their books,” Craney observed. “So I think they are gonna try to do everything they can to show that overtime spending is reduced based off of this story.”
MassDOT’s internal investigators are currently preparing to refer what they have discovered to the Office of Attorney General Andrea Campbell for potential criminal prosecution.
In response to detailed inquiries regarding potential larceny or public corruption charges, a spokesperson issued a standard response, noting that the office can neither confirm nor deny the existence of an active investigation.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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