Six police sergeants with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department have filed a federal lawsuit seeking three years of overtime pay they say they were illegally denied.

The men filed the suit May 17. It alleges that in the course of their normal duties as sergeants, they often worked more than eight hours a day - "regular time" as defined by Missouri law - but never received overtime as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The six are seeking back pay for the three years allowed by law, but say they cannot yet determine how much they are owed because the department failed to keep adequate overtime records for sergeants.

The suit also seeks back pay for other sergeants in the department.

The department did not immediately return a request for comment.

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