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Parkersburg city, firefighter attorneys argue motions before Beane

By Evan Bevins 4 min read

PARKERSBURG -- Attorneys representing the City of Parkersburg and firefighters who sued over the way their holiday hours are calculated argued their case before a Wood County Circuit Court judge Friday.

Judge J.D. Beane did not rule for either party's motion for summary judgment, but rescheduled the bench trial to accommodate a mediation session next month.

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.

On Friday, Johnnie Brown, representing the city, said there is no dispute over the facts of the case.

"It's truly just an application of how the city pays its holiday pay and whether it comports with the (state) statute," he said.

Brown -- with the Charleston law firm of Brown, Pullin, Fowler, Flanagan, Brown and Poe -- and plaintiffs' attorney Josh Miller, of Toriseva Law in Wheeling, laid out their arguments before Beane on Friday morning, with 36 people in the courtroom, many of them firefighters or their family members.

Giving a firefighter who starts his shift the day before a holiday eight hours of time off or one who finishes the day after 16 hours is "wrong, because the shift, of course, is 24 hours," Miller said. "It spans the midnight hour."

Brown said the calculation is based not on the length of the shift but on the number of hours worked on the actual holiday.

"The firemen do work a 24-hour shift; however, they do not work that shift completely on the legal holiday," he said. "We believe that we have interpreted it properly."

Miller argued Parkersburg Police officers receive credit for their full 10-hour shift even if they work past midnight. Brown said that only happens when an officer completes a shift on a holiday and starts the next one the same day or is scheduled off in a similar manner.

Toriseva Law has represented firefighters in other parts of the state on similar matters and many governments have changed their policies, Miller said. One case is pending before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

"Many cities have corrected their holiday pay with and without litigation," Miller said.

Brown said Parkersburg is obligated to follow state law, not the practices of other cities.

"What other cities have agreed to do does not make that the legal standard," he said.

The case had been set for a bench trial before Beane Nov. 3-4, but the attorneys said Friday they had agreed on a mediator who was not available until the following week. The trial was rescheduled for Dec. 13-14.

Speaking to firefighters and their supporters outside the Holmes R. Shaver Judicial Annex after the hearing, Teresa Toriseva of Toriseva Law said she has reached out to counsel representing White and other firefighters in a separate suit over reductions to firefighters' pay made when their work week changed from 48 to 54 hours to invite them into the mediation process. Wood County Circuit Judge Robert Waters ruled in the firefighters' favor in August, but the city may appeal.

White is also the plaintiff in a third lawsuit against the city, alleging officials have denied him opportunities to receive training he needs as the chief fire inspector and otherwise interfered with his job.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.

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