Police officers are some of the highest paid professionals in Fall River, Massachusetts, reports The Herald News, with several earning six-figure salaries as the result of overtime hours worked. Under the U.S. Department of Labor's Fair Standards Act (FLSA), all non-exempt employees are owed one-and-a-half times their regular pay rate for any employee attendance in excess of 40 hours during a single workweek.

Exemptions do not apply to police officers, highway patrolmen, state troopers, correctional officers, firefighters and other first responders. Thus, they are guaranteed premium overtime pay unless they qualify for another exemption under the FLSA as an administrative worker, professional, executive, outside sales or computer employee.

As a result of these exemptions, police departments across the country are experiencing budgeting challenges when it comes to paying officers for additional hours worked. For example, the Port Authority police in Pennsylvania racked up $12.3 million in overtime during the first quarter of 2012, up 80 percent from the first quarter in 2011, the New York Post reports.

State and local departments that are facing budget challenges might consider investing in a new timekeeping system that will enable them to monitor officers who regularly accrue extensive overtime. 

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