Report: SBU Hospital Second in New York in Overtime Payments

Stony Brook University Hospital paid more than $14.5 million to employees in 2012 – the second highest total in the state, after the New York State Police – according to a report published Thursday in Newsday.

A Freedom of Information request by the newspaper showed that overtime costs at the hospital in 2012 rose 13 percent over 2011, reflecting a trend in the state that saw overall overtime costs rise by 11 percent, or $520 million. Hospital officials did not immediately return Newsday's request for comment.

A cardiac nurse from East Setauket who works at Stony Brook University Hospital ranked No. 10 among the top overtime earners in the state, according to Newsday. Rowena Abesamis earned $92,824 in overtime in addition to her $72,076 salary, and she attributed it to being on call and working as many hours as she can as the main earner for her family. "You get paged any time – in the middle of the night – that they need you," she said.

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