A 49-year-old New York state technology employee accused of billing the state for 17-hour pandemic workdays he never actually worked has won an arbitration ruling ordering his reinstatement with full back pay, even though prosecutors once accused him of pocketing more than $8,000 through a falsified time-sheet scheme. Michael Genevick, who works for the state Office of Information Technology Services and lives in Greenwich, was suspended and charged with six felonies in May 2025 before the criminal case against him collapsed months later.
According to court records cited by the Times Union, Genevick regularly billed the state for shifts running from 7 a.m. to midnight beginning in 2020, and prosecutors alleged he received more than $8,000 in inappropriate compensation as a result. A criminal complaint from a senior investigator accused him of collecting at least $8,290 by falsifying time sheets from June 2020 through April 2025. The case against him was dismissed in November 2025, and an arbitrator sided with Genevick in February, prompting the Public Employees Federation to seek his reinstatement with back pay.
The investigation that led to Genevick's felony charges began with an anonymous tip alleging that state IT workers, including Genevick, had falsely logged overtime hours, the Times Union's report notes. The state Inspector General's Office led that investigation and ultimately referred the case for prosecution. Albany County's district attorney's office later reduced the charges to misdemeanors, and Albany City Court adjourned the case in contemplation of dismissal and sealed it on November 19, 2025. A spokesman for the district attorney's office, Ben DeLaMater, said he could not comment on the sealed case.
Pandemic Overtime Rules Become Central to the Defense
Much of the dispute traces back to the chaos of the early pandemic, when then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo issued an executive order giving many state employees blanket overtime approval. State technology workers were, per the same account, working long days assisting with pandemic testing and mass vaccination sites during that period. According to court records, Genevick's superiors raised no objections to his reported shifts at the time.
Genevick also volunteered for the Greenwich Fire Department in Washington County, and investigators alleged he was improperly paid $8,290 for time spent on activities unrelated to his state job. But arbitrator Thomas R. Rinaldo determined that the state failed to show Genevick's volunteer activities actually prevented him from doing his job or responding to work matters. Rinaldo found that Genevick had received no specific guidance on what personal activities he could or could not engage in while working in what the arbitrator called an “availability” or “standby” status.
Arbitrator's Ruling and the State's Pushback
Rinaldo's decision ordered the state to restore Genevick's back pay and benefits and allow him to return to work without discipline, also noting that his remote work did not require him to remain in one fixed location. Rob Merrill, a representative for the Public Employees Federation, said the union stands by Genevick and that the final and binding arbitration award dismissed the disciplinary charges and ordered all back pay and benefits. Merrill said the award is proper in all respects and must be confirmed.
The state Office of Information Technology Services is contesting that award in court, arguing the arbitrator exceeded his authority and failed to determine whether there was a valid reason to suspend Genevick in the first place. PEF attorneys counter that the arbitrator's decision should be upheld, and in an August court filing they reported that Genevick had not yet been reinstated. The matter now sits before Acting State Supreme Court Justice Kimberly A. O’Connor, whose ruling will determine whether the arbitration award stands.
A Broader Pattern of State Overtime Costs
Genevick's case unfolds against a backdrop of state government overtime costs that surged during the pandemic but did not rise every year afterward: state overtime pay fell from $1.4 billion in 2022 to $1.2 billion in 2023. New York state agency overtime costs increased 10.2% in 2024 to a total of $1.3 billion, with overtime hours rising by 7.8%, or 1.8 million hours, over the previous year, according to the New York State Office of the Comptroller. The comptroller's 2021 overtime report put 2020 costs at more than $850 million, covering roughly 19.1 million overtime hours worked statewide. A separate 2023 payroll analysis found that four state workers each earned more than $300,000 in overtime that year, with 439 employees collecting more than $100,000 each, according to the Daily Gazette.
For now, Genevick remains caught between a dismissed criminal case, a union-backed arbitration win, and a state agency unwilling to let the matter rest. Whether he returns to his job with the back pay the arbitrator ordered now rests with the courts rather than the agency that suspended him.
