A former Philadelphia Fire Department payroll supervisor is facing federal bribery and theft charges after prosecutors accused her of approving more than 2,000 hours of overtime that were never actually worked, costing the city over $139,000. Marian Farris held the payroll supervisor role within the department and is charged with bribery and theft from a local government agency that receives federal funding, according to federal court documents.
Federal prosecutors allege Farris took money from an employee in exchange for approving the phantom hours, as reported by NBC10 Philadelphia. In some instances, prosecutors say, she credited the employee with 22 to 24 hours of overtime within a single 24-hour period — physically impossible hours for someone who was, according to the allegations, not even working. Investigators say some of that fictional overtime was logged while the employee was traveling, with vacation spots including a cruise to Bermuda, Cancún and Las Vegas.
Resignation Timeline in Dispute
According to a civil lawsuit, Farris resigned from her position in April 2025, citing anxiety, depression, toxicity within the department and a hostile work environment as her reasons for leaving. That timeline conflicts with reporting from The Philadelphia Inquirer, which states Farris resigned in March 2025. Neither Farris nor the Philadelphia Fire Department immediately responded to requests for comment, and Farris does not currently have a publicly listed attorney in the federal court docket.
The Inquirer's reporting adds significant context to the case, describing a broader Office of the Inspector General investigation that named former paramedic Jacqulyn Murphy as receiving more than $180,000 in unjust compensation during 2023 and 2024. Investigators told the paper that Murphy clocked 22 hours of overtime in May 2024 while she was vacationing in Cancún, and that she was paid for 12-hour shifts every day during a trip to Las Vegas to get married, including on her wedding day and the day she flew home. The same report alleged that Farris rubber-stamped Murphy's overtime approvals and manipulated tax withholding statuses for both women.
Alleged Payments and a Grand Jury Letter
Emails cited in that inspector general report showed biweekly $500 payments from Murphy to someone identified only as “Marian F.” over six months in 2024, the Inquirer's report notes. The Inquirer reported that prosecutors have since convened a grand jury to investigate at least one former fire department official in connection with the alleged scheme.
The inspector general recommended that the city retrain and rehire fire department payroll and human-resources staff and put new overtime controls in place, per the same Inquirer account. The allegations against Farris surface alongside a separate federal civil lawsuit from former deputy commissioner Anthony Hudgins, who alleges he was demoted and became the subject of a sexual harassment investigation after he reported suspected fraud within the department.
A Department Already Stretched Thin
The overtime allegations land against a backdrop of ballooning costs and chronic understaffing at the Philadelphia Fire Department. The department was projected to spend a record $86 million on overtime this year while facing an 18% job vacancy rate driven largely by a 27% shortage of emergency medical staff, according to FireRescue1. The department has also faced overtime and staffing pressures.
City payroll records reviewed by Firehouse showed 89 firefighters and paramedics earned more than $100,000 in overtime in 2024, while roughly 500 workers — more than one in six staffers departmentwide — took home at least $50,000 in overtime pay. One paramedic reportedly logged $185,000 in overtime on top of a $91,000 base salary, according to the Inquirer. Citywide, overtime spending is also a budget issue.
Not an Isolated Pattern
Philadelphia is not the only city grappling with alleged fraudulent overtime among public-safety employees. In Washington, D.C., six current and former Metropolitan Police Department employees were charged in an alleged $441,000 overtime scheme, with prosecutors accusing former MPD Sgt. Frantz Fulcher of submitting at least 1,861 fraudulent overtime hours worth more than $174,000 in 2024 alone. D.C.'s public safety agencies spent nearly $220 million on overtime in fiscal year 2025, with MPD's overtime costs climbing from $61.5 million in fiscal year 2023 to $95.7 million two years later.
