Some Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) employees stationed at COVID-19 testing sites accumulated a significant amount of overtime payment “that was unwarranted or unworked,” according to a recent Los Angeles Controller report. On Aug. 25, Los Angeles Controller Ron Galperin released a report that examined overtime logged by LAFD employees stationed at COVID-19 testing sites in 2020. In September, the controller’s office received allegations that LAFD employees stationed at COVID-19 testing sites received “excessive salaries due to their reporting of overtime that was unwarranted or unworked.” In 2020, the average regular pay for LAFD employees amounted to $118,479, while the average overtime pay was nearly 50 percent of the regular pay at $59,123. The report found that several LAFD administrative protocols, including timekeeping, went overlooked due to the challenges the pandemic put on the department. “The pandemic forced the City of Los Angeles to shift resources in order to limit …