Last November, a nonprofit called Transparent California reported that a BART janitor named Liang Zhao Zhang made $271,000 in a single year — over $162,000 of that in the form of overtime.

Now, a KTVU investigation into Zhang's hours and pay revealed that he disappears into a storage closet at the Powell St. station, sometimes for hours a day.

In order to observe how Zhang spent his sometimes 17-hour work day, KTVU requested surveillance video from BART. On it, they saw Zhang entering a storage closet twice in one day, once for 54 minutes and again for 90 minutes later in the day. On another day, they observed Zhang in the closet for 90 minutes in the afternoon and another 78 minutes in the evening.

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Zhang tells the TV crew he is taking his meal breaks during that time, although a BART representative told KTVU employees eat their lunch in the separate break room. BART employees are normally given 30 minutes for lunch, although BART doesn't track their breaks.

KTVU also discovered that Zhang failed to clock in or out 16 times in one year.

Back to Gallery Cameras catch BART janitor who made $270,000 in a year... 18 1 of 18 Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle 2 of 18 3 of 18 4 of 18 Photo: Kay Stalk, @kaystalk/Twitter 5 of 18 Photo: Raphael Kluzniok, The Chronicle 6 of 18 Photo: Brandon M. Mercer 7 of 18 Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle 8 of 18 Photo: James Tensuan, Special to the Chronicle 9 of 18 Photo: Michael Short, Special to the Chronicle 10 of 18 11 of 18 Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle 12 of 18 Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle 13 of 18 Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle 14 of 18 Photo: San Mateo Co. sheriff 15 of 18 Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle 16 of 18 Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, Special to The Chronicle 17 of 18 Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle 18 of 18 Photo: Liz Hafalia Elizabeth Hafalia, The Chronicle



































Last year, BART spokesperson Alicia Trost told SFGATE that Zhang was paid every single day in 2015 and provided a breakdown of his pay and benefits for the year:

For regular hours he did:

1420.73 regular hours

24 hours of protected sick leave

192 of vacation hours

48 hours of holiday pay

3.27 of administrative leave

For overtime he did:

63 hours of "holiday work"

1821.53 hours of time and a half (1.5 for regular day off 1).

601 hours of double time (2 for regular day off 2)

Transparent California found that Zhang worked 17 hours a day for 18 days in a row in July 2015, a feat that a writer from the nonprofit called "super human."

"This employee signs up for every overtime slot that becomes available," Trost told SFGATE. "He is likely working almost every day of the year cleaning our stations. He is signing up for time that is also available to others — if he doesn't take the hours, someone else will. The sign-ups are based on seniority."

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BART confirmed that 49 other janitors made over $100,000 in 2015 and that no city, state or federal regulations prevented employees from working that much voluntary overtime.

None of those employees have been audited, BART told KTVU.