San Francisco transit janitor who makes more than $250K a year - $160K in overtime - is caught hiding for hours in a closet doing nothing
- Liang Zhang earned $270K in 2015 for cleaning metro station in San Francisco
- His timecard for BART showed he worked 17-hour days for 18 days straight
- Investigation revealed he would take breaks for hours when he was on the clock
- One day he spent a total of two hours in the closet in the afternoon and evening
- BART managers said despite his high pay, there won't be a future audit
A San Francisco transit janitor who earned more than $250,000 in one year, was caught hiding for several hours in a closet not working.
Liang Zhao Zhang, earned $57,945 in 2015 for cleaning San Francisco's Powell Street station.
But public records released by Transparent California, show that Zhang also made an additional $162,050 in overtime, bringing his total salary and benefits that year to $271,243, according to an investigation by KTVU.
Zhang's timecard data showed that he worked every day in 2015, and most days he worked overtime.
BART paid Zhang for working 17-hour days for 18 days straight in July 2015, according to the station.
San Francisco transit janitor, Liang Zhao Zhang, who earned more than $250,000 in one year, was caught hiding for several hours in a closet not working. He made $57,945 in 2015 for cleaning San Francisco's Powell Street station and an additional $160,000 in overtime
Zhang's timecard data showed that he worked every day in 2015, and most days he worked overtime. BART paid Zhang (pictured) for working 17-hour days for 18 days straight in July 2015
On the first day, Zhang appeared to go into the closet twice, for 54 minutes and 90 minutes. And on the second day, he spent 90 minutes in the closet in the afternoon, and 78 minutes later that evening
He also used some days of paid vacation and holidays in order to get paid for 365 days that year.
Over a two-day period, surveillance video from BART's security cameras, showed Zhang working and completing his daily to-do list, but it also showed him disappearing inside a storage closet for hours at a time, according to the station.
On the first day, Zhang appeared to go into the closet twice, for 54 minutes and 90 minutes. And on the second day, he spent 90 minutes in the closet in the afternoon, and 78 minutes later that evening.
BART has never investigated Zhang's time cards, despite him earning more than $705,000 between 2012 and 2015.
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'It's absolutely outrageous,' Robert Fellner, with Transparent California, told KTVU. 'For Janitors that's obscene! It's unconscionable!'
However, there is an explanation, according to BART's Chief Transportation Officer Roy Aguilera.
Aguilera told KTVU that it was possible for Zhang to work that many hours because he never refuses extra work and picks up the overtime hours offered.
According to Aguilera, there is a large population of homeless people spend time in the Powell Street station, which means the janitorial staff spends much of their time cleaning up urine, feces, and needles.
BART has never investigated Zhang's time cards, despite him earning more than $705,000 between 2012 and 2015
BART administration says that Zhang's direct supervisor approved all his timesheets and overtime, and they insist he is one of their best employees
'People are not raising their hands and saying, "I want some of that overtime." Mr. Zhang has said yes, he's worked hard, he's completed his assignments, so I stand by the work he's done,' Aguilera told KTVU.
Over a two-month period, Zhang failed to clock in or out to verify his hours three times.
BART General Manager Grace Crunican said she wasn't aware of those discrepancies.
'Well, this piece is news to me, yes that would be concerning if we had an examination with the supervisor and there wasn't a good reason for that.'
Crunican told KTVU that she does not believe, based on the information she's seen, that Zhang's high pay and time sheet warrants an audit.
'We've increased the staffing two years in a row, we've reduced the overtime this past year,' she said, 'we've reduced the number of hours for overtime.'
Another 49 BART janitors who earned more than $100,000 in 2015, were not investigated or audited by the company, according to KTVU's investigation.
The agency's spokesperson, Alicia Trost, told the station in an email that there is no future audit being considering after even after the investigation.
BART administration says that Zhang's supervisor approved all of his timesheets and overtime. They also insist that he's one of their employees.
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