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Secret Service agents lose tens of thousands of dollars because they are required to work weeks and months for no pay.

Agents’ annual pay, including overtime, is capped at $160,300. But during presidential campaign years they can easily work far more time than covered by that amount. They don’t stop working when they reach the cap. They stay on the job without pay.

That’s dedication to mission. It also can wreck home life, lead to burn-out and sap morale.

These stories of hardship were told by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), from information provided by the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, at a hearing Tuesday.

* An agent in New York on the detail of Donald Trump, now the president-elect, expects to lose almost $30,000.

* An agent in Chicago anticipates exceeding the pay cap by almost $25,000

* A supervisory agent and protective detail leader has exceeded the pay cap by $60,000.

 “The ‘max-out’ issue has been consistently identified as one of the top issues affecting employee morale and employee retention,” Thomas E. Dougherty, the agency’s chief strategy officer, told the hearing. “However, the protective mission requires continued, uninterrupted coverage for our protectees, requiring individuals to work over the amount for which they are able to be legally paid due to the annual cap.”

Reps. Elijah E. Cummings (Md.) and Bennie G. Thompson (Miss.), the ranking Democrats on the Oversight and Government Reform and Homeland Security committees, respectively, sent a letter Tuesday to the House Appropriations Committee urging it to approve funding for 2016 and 2020 Secret Service overtime pay, the Washington Post reports.