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PARKERSBURG -- A Parkersburg firefighter filed suit this week alleging the city has not paid him and his co-workers properly for holidays and seeking compensation.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Wood County Circuit Court, said the city does not credit firefighters with the correct amount of compensatory time hours and pays them at the regular rate, rather than time-and-a-half as required by state law. Lt. Wayne White is the plaintiff, but the suit names 55 other firefighters it says can make the same claims.
"Firefighters aren't highly paid, but they are highly skilled and highly dedicated professionals. They should at least be paid properly according to the law," Teresa Toriseva, the Wheeling attorney representing White, said in an emailed statement.
Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce declined to comment Wednesday because the city had not yet been served with the lawsuit.
The suit cites state code that says a firefighter required to work or whose day off falls on a legal holiday shall be allowed equal time off or paid at least one-and-a-half times his or her normal rate. While firefighters receive that comp time, the complaint says, it is difficult to utilize it because the department must have a minimum number of firefighters on duty.
Firefighters must find someone to cover their shift before they take time off, the suit says. If they do not, they continue to accrue time off, but the city caps the amount at 100 hours. Twice a year, the excess is paid down -- but at their regular rate, instead of time-and-a-half, the suit says.
Because firefighters work 54-hour weeks, the suit argues, those hours should be based on a 24-hour shift, rather than the actual number of hours worked on the holiday itself.
A firefighter who works a 24-hour shift that includes midnight to 8 a.m. of the holiday receives eight hours of comp time, while one who works 8 a.m. of the holiday to 8 a.m. the next day gets 16. But city police officers receive 10 hours of comp time when they work a holiday, it says, even if their shift only includes one actual hour on the holiday itself.
West Virginia recognizes a dozen legal holidays, and Parkersburg City Council recently passed the first reading of an ordinance adding a 13th, Christmas Eve, which is now a half day for city employees.
The suit demands all sums due to each plaintiff, plus interest, to be determined by a court-appointed special commissioner, as well as attorney fees and other compensatory damages.
"In Parkersburg, as with a number of other West Virginia cities, firefighters are being cheated," Toriseva said. "We won't rest until all local IAFF unions are treated fairly and all West Virginia career firefighters properly paid."
The International Association of Firefighters is a fraternal organization whose members include Parkersburg firefighters, but it is not a bargaining unit.
This is the second lawsuit filed against the city by firefighters in the last two years. White was one of three plaintiffs in a 2018 suit claiming the city improperly reduced their pay by cutting their longevity rate from 25 cents an hour for each year worked to 22.2 cents. The city argued the 25-cent rate was based on a 48-hour week and firefighters continued to receive it after their schedule was changed to 54 hours.
The last hearing on that case was in January 2019. A trial has not been scheduled.
Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.