MORGANTOWN – Firefighters for the city of Morgantown have unanimously voted “no confidence” in City Manager Kim Haws and more litigation is promised as the legal battle over improper compensation continues.
The International Association of Firefighters Local 313 claims Haws and the city cancelled differential pay in retaliation for recently rejecting a proposed $1.7 million settlement for the ongoing lawsuit over holiday pay. Shift differential pay, is an enhancement to the hourly pay for afternoon and midnight shifts. Cancelling differential pay will result in a salary reduction of about $2,000 year.
“The professional fire fighters of the IAFF 313 will not be intimidated by the illegal, aggressive, and retaliatory tactics of Mr. Hawes and the City of Morgantown,” said attorney Teresa Toriseva, who is representing the firefighters.
“We will be filing additional lawsuits by 52 professional fire fighters for illegal pay reduction, violations of civil service, retaliation by a city official in his official capacity, and more. It is clear that the City would rather pay litigation costs than pay fire fighters what they are owed.”
Firefighters first filed a lawsuit in June 2019 over improper holiday compensation. According to the suit, sate code spells out compensation for holiday weeks. If a firefighter works on a legal holiday, or if the holiday falls on the firefighter’s day off, the firefighter is entitled to equivalent time off on another day or pay at time-and-a-half.
The suit says that the firefighters were never properly compensated, only being paid for 12-hour shifts, even though they work 24-hour shifts.
Several other cities, including Charleston, have already settled similar lawsuits.