Could you cope with repaying the loan if you were made redundant or lost your overtime earnings or were unable to work because of illness?

His overtime earnings have been cut because the bus company has decided to revoke a long-standing rule and employ women bus drivers.

It contributes to long-term burdens on taxpayers because city workers' pensions are based, in part, on overtime earnings in their final years of service.

One police supervisor said that the overtime earnings could be substantial because officers had been asked to work 12-hour shifts every day and were often working one weekend shift as well.

One explanation for the rise has been a surge in overtime earnings for officers in the lower ranks from patrolmen to lieutenant.

For his father Babur includes details of his pay rises, bonus scheme and overtime earnings.

"It comes out of the city coffers," she said, "but it goes back into the economy" as people spend their overtime earnings.

A federal district judge agreed, but an appellate court held that overtime earnings should begin after 40 hours a week, the same standard applied to Houston's other public safety employees.

He signed up for the traffic duty, his wife said, at least in part as a way to increase his overtime earnings as he prepared to retire.

They said fewer lieutenants were taking the captain's test because of their overtime earnings, which are unavailable to captains.