The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey managed to reduce its overtime spending by 15 percent during the first half of the year when compared with the same timeframe in 2011, according to agency officials. Moreover, premium payouts declined between the first and second quarters of 2012, signalling the efforts on behalf of the department to slow down payroll overages.

In the past, The Port Authority was singled out by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli for excessive payroll overages.

"Overtime flows like water at the Port Authority and management has no clear strategy to achieve its own benchmarks and goals for curbing costs," DiNapoli said, as reported by The Star Ledger.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employers are required to pay nonexempt workers time-and-a-half for any hours beyond 40 in a single week. The Port Authority successfully trimmed back its overtime costs during the second quarter by eliminating 11,000 hours of overtime. 

Employers that need to cut back on overtime to stay on budget might consider implementing additional payroll processing programs that can alert supervisors if an employee is earning excessive overtime. 

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