Assuming officers work nothing more than their regular scheduled shifts, are they entitled to overtime?
A. Although 76% answered no, that answer is correct only if the agency has established the 7(k) exception a partial exemption from overtime pay for police and fire personnel. The basic rule for overtime under the FLSA is that employees are entitled to overtime after 40 hours worked in a seven-day work week. Unless the 7(k) exception has been established, the schedule outlined above would result in some work weeks of 48 hours and some of 36 hours entitling the employees to 8 hours of overtime pay in certain weeks. Section 7(k) of the FLSA allows for alternative work periods for police and fire personnel, ranging from 7 to 28 days, and designates the number of hours that can be worked in a given work period before overtime is due. In the above example, if the employer had established a 24-day 7(k) work period, employees would not be entitled to overtime. A 24-day cycle allows for a maximum of 147 hours of work before overtime is due, and 12-hour days on a three-on, three-off schedule tot
