Parkersburg firefighters, city head back to court to argue over fees, mediation efforts

PARKERSBURG -- The attorney representing Parkersburg firefighters over how holiday pay is calculated accused the city of acting in bad faith during recent mediations and is asking the city to pay for the related expenses their side incurred.

In the court of Circuit Judge JD Beane on Monday, Attorney Josh Miller of Toriseva Law in Wheeling who is representing the firefighters, said they were appearing in court on a motion for sanctions for the failure of the city to participate in mediation.

"What happened that day continues to happen right now," Miller said. "There has been no offer whatsoever. None."

At the heart of the matter is how holiday pay is calculated for firefighters.

Parkersburg firefighters work 24-hour shifts, from 8 a.m. to 8 a.m., and the city awards them time off for working or being scheduled off on a designated holiday based on their scheduled hours on that particular date. Fire Capt. Wayne White filed suit in 2020 saying firefighters should receive credit for the full 24-hour shift. The suit also claimed the city caps the time firefighters can accrue at 100 hours and pays the amount down twice a year at the regular rate rather than the holiday rate of time-and-a-half.

Although White is the plaintiff, the complaint said 55 other firefighters can make the same claims.

Miller said they assembled their litigation team of firefighters to attend, they secured a spot where the mediation could occur, agreed to a mediator and more. Some of the firefighters took paid personal time off from work to be able to attend.

He said the city asked they mediate this case and a companion case where firefighters' longevity pay was also being worked on.

"We were confident that our resources would not be wasted," Miller said. "However, the city made no offer.

"They know we are putting on the table that they owe the firefighters for five years of incorrectly calculated holiday pay (from the filing of the initial complaint)."

Attorney Johnnie Brown, representing the city, said they went forward in good faith in the mediation process.

There were meetings with city officials beforehand to prepare.

Beane asked Brown for clarification that nothing was offered as a result.

"Not formally," Brown replied.

Brown said the decision was made to work through the issues of both the longevity case and the holiday pay cases together. He said those involved were trying to take care of the longevity case and work through the issues there.

"There was actually a bit of progress made in that case," Brown said. "It didn't resolve, but there was a lot of progress made and several proposals went back and forth on that."

During that time, there was talk about the holiday pay issues in relation to what happened.

"We just ran out of time," Brown said, adding he had Mayor Tom Joyce there the entire day and was involved in the talks with the mediator.

There were decisions made to get the longevity case resolved and there was hope that would create some good will for the holiday pay case, Brown added.

"We were focusing a lot on the longevity case," he said. "I'm not saying anyone did anything wrong here. Nobody did anything nefarious.

"The dynamics of it just didn't work out that day."

Beane asked Miller if he had a rundown of the costs incurred that day from personal day pay for the firefighters, attorney fees, travel expenses, the cost of the mediator and any other related costs.

Miller did not but said he could have it filed in the matter of "a few days." Brown said he could also be able to respond soon after.

Beane gave both sides until Dec. 5 to file those expenses and make any responses that he will review.

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com