Los Angeles Mayor Reaches Tentative Deal with LAPD Union for $245 Million in Overtime Pay

A tentative deal between Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and the leadership of the police union would guarantee $245 million in cash overtime pay for officers.

To get the union to postpone two pay raises, Garcetti has offered officers at the Los Angeles Police Department a minimum of $70 million in overtime pay in each of the next three budget years. On top of that, officers would be permitted in the final year of the contract to cash out as much as $35 million in overtime pay for hours they’ve already worked, but for which they have not been compensated, the LA Times reports.

The latter deal point stems from a little-known budgeting practice called overtime banking, which the LAPD uses to pay for personnel costs when the money isn’t immediately available.

Under that system, officers work overtime hours but frequently aren’t paid for those hours until years in the future — usually when they retire or leave the department, when their salaries are considerably higher.

Since July, the start of the city’s fiscal year, police officers have worked more than 400,000 overtime hours without being paid, time valued at nearly $28 million, according to department figures.

LAPD officers are voting on the tentative agreement, which would extend the union’s contract two years, or until June 2024. Union officials, who have recommended a yes vote, say the offer of a $35-million cash-out period in 2023-24 would allow officers to be compensated for some of their banked overtime hours earlier than planned.