MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The Morgantown Fire Civil Service Commission will meet in special session May 12 at 9 a.m. Commission members will hold a hearing for 47 firefighters seeking to have differential pay restored. This is the second meeting for the two sides on the issue.
Morgantown City Manager Kim Haws released a statement saying changes made were due to inaccuracies noted during a review by a consultant of the Classification and Compensation study and updates to City Personnel Rules. Changes in differential pay policy resulted in a $2,000 annual pay reduction for the 47 firefighters.
Wheeling attorney, Teresa Toriseva represents members of the International Association of Firefighters Local 313 in a retaliation lawsuit. According to that lawsuit, the city is being accused of making the decision on differential pay in response to a previous lawsuit over holiday pay, which was further emphasized by accusations made by city officials over Morgantown Fire Department improprieties.
Legal counsel for Morgantown, Ryan Simonton of Kay Casto and Chaney said the firefighters are not being targeted over the change in pay. In particular, the change in differential pay was a correction that was made across the board with all city employees.
During a special session in April, members of the Fire Civil Service Commission asked the city and firefighters to work out a settlement.