County probation workers compete for OT

As Los Angeles County braces for nearly $2 billion in state cuts, an audit released Monday found the Probation Department exceeded its overtime budget by an average of 126 percent over the past five years.Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

Among the startling findings, the audit said some employees hold contests to see who can work the most overtime and engage in "shopping for overtime." The vast majority of those audited worked more overtime than the county allows, it found.

"We are definitely not happy to see overtime being used this way," Auditor-Controller Wendy Watanabe said. "I know they have a difficult task because of the size of the department, but especially with this economy and funding dwindling everywhere, we really need to have much better controls over overtime."