Investigating Wage Theft: Maryland correctional officers say they were shortchanged

BALTIMORE — WJZ is placing a spotlight on wage theft with our special series "Owed" in partnership with the CBS News Innovation Lab. 

Wage theft is where people do not get the overtime or benefits they were promised, and it costs workers across this country millions of dollars every year.

Some of those impacted include Maryland correctional officers. 

The U.S. Department of Labor has already reached a settlement with some officers in Jessup while officers in other parts of the state are awaiting a resolution to their claims. 

"You do a job, and you expect to be compensated," said Sgt. Dorian Johnson, who works at the Chesapeake Detention Facility and represents other union officers. "We punched in and it's called a ledger and they said there's a grace period of 15 minutes at the beginning in 15 minutes at the end, and the state has refused to compensate us for the actual hours that we actually worked."

Officer Brittany Cocart who works at the Metropolitan Transition Center in Baltimore City recounted how she was forced to work overtime because of staff shortages. Then, she said no supervisor was available to approve her hours. 

She told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren that weeks went by, and the overtime never came.

"I wasn't compensated for the two hours I was forced to work overtime and it was just continuing and continuing, and it never showed up on my check," Officer Cocart said. 

CBS News found there have been more than 8,000 wage theft claims to the Maryland Department of Labor since 2009, costing employees more than $20 million.

"Our members are taxpayers. They're hard-working citizens, and they get deserve to get paid for every hour that they work," said Patrick Moran, the president of AFSCME Council 3, the union that represents the officers. 

"People were coming forward and saying, 'I know I worked more than this,' and they could prove they worked more than this because the time reflected that, but the paycheck did not,"
Moran said. 

Correctional officers have a tough job, and as is common for many workers after the pandemic, they have to pick up the slack because of shortages. 

Ayodele Okunoren, an officer at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in Jessup, told WJZ he first noticed he was not getting paid for overtime in July 2017.

"iI's not like we're just working for free. We showed up. We did our job," Officer Okunoren told Hellgren.

The missing extra dollars added up. 

"I have to pick up a second job, something that will get me the money quick or I have to call and explain to the people I owe money to—my mortgage company—and say, 'Oh, my job messed my check up again.' Or explain to the bank could you waive this overdraft fee?" Officer Cocart said. 

While she waits for federal labor officials to resolve her claims, they have already ordered the state to pay almost half a million dollars in settlements to workers at the Jessup Correctional Institution. 

Sgt. Oluwadamilola Olaniyan is one of them. He received more than $1,000.

"Shortchanging everybody and not paying what we deserve, it is just unacceptable," Sgt. Olaniyan said. 

Their union, AFSCME, said more legislation is under consideration in the general assembly this session that would help state education and transportation workers fight wage theft.

AFSCME president Patrick Moran told WJZ the overtime issues for correctional officers all happened under the Hogan administration, and he is hopeful they won't happen again with new leadership in Annapolis. 

"It's a dangerous job. The overtime was forced and that's unacceptable in the richest state in the nation," Moran said. 

WJZ did reach out to the state for a response to the allegations. We will update this story when we hear back.