CHARLESTON, W.Va. The state Supreme Court has ordered the dispute between Morgantown firefighters and the city back to circuit court.
A November 8 opinion reverses rulings by Circuit Judge Phillip Gaujot that said the firefighters’ claims are controlled by the Wage Payment and Collection Act and the five-year statute of limitations.
Judge Perri Jo DeChristopher will preside over the case.
Oral arguments in the case were presented on September 13 during the Court On Campus program at Marshall University in the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center.
Members of International Association of Firefighters Local 313 claimed Morgantown compensated firefighters for 12 hours of work on holiday shifts when they actually worked 24 hours.
Monongalia County Circuit Court Judge Phillip Gaujot ruled in favor of firefighters in a summary judgment but reversed that decision weeks later because he said objections made by the city were not properly considered.
Firefighters attorney Teresa Toriseva told justices the firefighters are being treated like a typical 40-hour-a-week employee when they work 24-hour shifts that average a 56-hour week.
Toriseva said Judge Gaujot, who recently retired, improperly interpreted the state code dictating how firefighters are to be compensated during holidays. The statute directs firefighters to be paid at a rate of not less than one and one-half times their regular rate of pay if time off is not elected by the firefighter.
Nearly 100 firefighters across the state attended the hearing at Marshall University.