The NYPD paid this employee $650K last year (THREE TIMES what Ray Kelly earned) and he doesn't even carry a badge

Robert Donofrio, a steamfitter, recently got his job back after winning a legal battle with the NYPD — and cashed in six years of back pay as a welcome-back gift.

That gave him a take-home of $647,733 for Fiscal Year 2012 — meaning the civilian NYPD employee more than tripled Police Commissioner Ray Kelly’s pay.

Donofrio, 62, of Bay Ridge, was fired for a host of infractions, including screaming at a supervisor, losing his keys, and driving the wrong way down a one-way street. He fought for his job back, and an arbitrator sided with him, finding most of the infractions to be unfounded. The NYPD declined comment.

“My boss didn’t like me — it’s as simple as that. I never stepped on toes, or spoke out of turn, but they had it out for me,” he said, pleased to be back on top of his game. “I went from mediocre overtime, to no overtime, to being a top earner. Everything is good now!”

Rounding out the top three on the NYPD payroll for the fiscal year were two former cops who prevailed in legal fights against the department, according to payroll records obtained by the Daily News under the Freedom of Information law.

A jury awarded Lt. Thomas Connors $507,198 and Capt. Lori Albunio $479,473 when they won a suit charging they were retaliated against for objecting to improper treatment of another cop thought to be gay.

The fourth-highest compensated employee was also No. 2 on the list of NYPD overtime earners — Jose Mangual, a civilian oiler. He brought in a stunning $95,013 in overtime for 658 hours of extra oiling, boosting his total pay to $279,934.

Mangual’s extra-time payout was surpassed for the fiscal year only by that of Detective John Barry, who is retired and collected $176,909 for overtime he worked in past years. The cha-ching came as part of a ballooning NYPD overtime bill — $604.8 million for the last fiscal year for cops and civilian employees, up $55.3 million from the $549.5 million recorded the year before, according to the Independent Budget Office.

Cuts in the size of the department have contributed to soaring overtime costs, according to Doug Turetsky of the IBO.

“Some of it is driven by unplanned events, everything from Occupy Wall Street to presidential visits,” he said of the department. “As the number of cops has trended down a bit, the demand on them has increased ... their workload stays the same or increases, but they don’t have the same number of uniforms.”

The News’ analysis found that 48 cops and employees made at least $50,000 in overtime.

No. 3 on the OT list was Mark Torre, a lieutenant who heads the NYPD bomb squad. He brought home $94,116 in overtime — a little more than half of it payouts for comp time racked up over past years. The boost made his total pay $238,871.

Lou Turco, head of the Lieutenants Benevolent Association, said the city did not carefully track money owed to cops for past overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and then started paying cops the money they were owed over a year ago, amid a lawsuit in which Barry was a plaintiff.

Top lieutenants like Torre, he said, also work at a higher pay grade. “Good police work costs money,” he said.

Torre’s expertise is routinely called on in the NYPD’s unending defense against terrorism. But his payout, however, wasn’t as rich as the take-home of NYPD civilian laborer Darrell Wilder — $88,782 in overtime, adding up to total annual pay of $252,839.

The sky-high payouts to NYPD tradespeople are due to prevailing wage levels set by the city Controller’s office that are currently being challenged in court by the mayor, a City Hall source charged. “They get a very high rate because the rate is set by the Controller’s office,” the source said. “They’re always earning a ton.”

By Rocco Parascandola , Denis Slattery AND Erin Durkin / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS