The outcome of a class-action lawsuit alleging Honolulu police officers were not properly paid over a three-year period could cost the city more than $50 million and is going to change the way police do business, police and union officials said yesterday.

Alex Garcia, O'ahu chapter chairman of the State of Hawai'i Organization of Police Officers, said union attorneys have indicated a settlement could cost the city $25 million to $50 million. Settlements in similar lawsuits on Maui and Hawai'i counties cost $1.2 million and $1.8 million, respectively.

Honolulu police Chief Boisse Correa said the lawsuit would "change the way police do business."

Correa did not elaborate on the possible changes, but Garcia said any settlement would force the department to alter work schedules and implement strict time-management and monitoring measures.

Correa made his statements to reporters yesterday after a City Council Public Safety Committee hearing on the police budget.

"It's not going to be palatable or easy for police to change," Correa said. "They are going to have to change."

The federal lawsuit is scheduled for trial in February 2006.

Filed on behalf of more than 1,500 officers under a provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the lawsuit alleges that from 1999 to 2002, Honolulu didn't pay officers for time they spent on activities such as work-related travel, command briefings before and after their shifts, missed meal breaks, and for cleaning and maintaining vehicles.

The lawsuit also alleges that officials improperly calculated overtime, that employees were not compensated for all work associated with the job, and that the city's comp-time policies violate the FLSA.

More than 600 Honolulu firefighters also have signed onto the suit.

Garcia said the issues that prompted the lawsuit date back farther than the current police administration.

He said union members would welcome the possible changes, and in the long run, they would be beneficial to the officers.

"Some come in early to prep for the job, or some stay after work to do their reports. They are not getting paid but doing work," Garcia said yesterday. "We need to paint the true picture of what it takes to run a police department."

Police Capt. Frank Fujii declined to comment about department policy changes that might be brought about by the lawsuit because the suit has yet to reach court.

In December 2004, Maui and Big Island officials finalized two settlements worth a total of $3 million to compensate police, firefighters and other public workers for overtime the counties allegedly failed to pay them. A total of 221 current and former police officers and firefighters, and other county employees, joined in the class-action suit on the Big Island.

Individuals in that group received payments of $1,500 to $32,500, before lawyers' fees.

The Maui County settlement requires the county to pay $1.2 million to cover similar claims by 122 plaintiffs. The individual employees in that case will receive payments ranging from $2,700 to $34,000.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.