DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – In May 2024, an independent advisory firm was provided the hourly pay information for a single employee who was a Transportation Equipment Operator, also known as a bus driver, for the city of Detroit’s Department of Transportation (DDOT).

The advisory firm Stout, Risius, Ross found the example driver was scheduled to work 10 hours and 57 minutes that day. However, the driver only worked 8 hours and 50 minutes. The driver received compensation for the planned hours, not what the driver actually worked.

Computer system woes.

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When Stout asked for spreadsheet files from the department’s computer payroll system so it could determine if workers were being paid for hours they did not work, the city told them they didn’t understand how the computer payrolls system worked and to continue the audit without it.

On May 1, 2024, the third-party firm did an onside inspection of DDOT so they could have a better understanding of how work-hour records were maintained by the DDOT, which employed 941 people with a payroll of $47 million in 2022.

Ten months of communication.

The third-party report states after 10 months of communication between the city, the Detroit Department of Transportation and computer vendors, Robert Cramer, executive director of DDOT, sent an email telling Stout to proceed with the audit without the information “and note the scope limitation.”

Cramer sent an email on Feb. 18, 2025 that stated, “that DDOT had made significant efforts in trying to fulfill Stout’s information request but concluded that it did not have the necessary understanding and expertise” with the computer payroll system to do it.

“DDOT has agreed that the example selected and reviewed during the May 1, 2024 onsite observation suggests that the employee was paid for planned hours instead of actual hours
worked. In this instance, compensation based on planned hours instead of actual hours worked could result in an overpayment of compensation to this employee,” Stout’s report says. It also notes “the fact that DDTO does not understand” how the computer payroll system function “is also concerning.”

The report stated that DDOT “has committed to engage the software vendor” that implemented the payroll computer system and “become more knowledgeable of its system.”

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The report was provided to the Detroit City Council for its April 29 meeting.