West Virginia Firefighters Pursue a Holiday Backpay Legal Battle That Was Settled Last Year for $1.7 Million
The two-and-a-half year battle between the city of Morgantown and International Firefighters Local 313 over holiday backpay goes before Judge Phillip Gaujot September 16.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the firefighters by Wheeling-based attorney Teresa Toriseva, says Morgantown violated state code by compensating firefighters for 12 hours of time off for each holiday when shifts are actually 24 hours.
Officials in Charleston negotiated a $1.7 million settlement with firefighters over the same issue in January of 2020. That settlement covered about 10 years of backpay for more than 160 firefighters and took about seven months to finalize.
“We have been trying since March of 2019, March of 2019 it’s stunning how much money has been spent fighting about since then,” Toriseva said,” I don’t know the answer to that question, but I know it’s a lot.”
