Morgantown Firefighters' Holiday Back Pay Suit Might End Soon

Morgantown Firefighters' Holiday Back Pay Suit Might End Soon

Introduction

A lawsuit over holiday back pay between International Firefighters Local 313 and the city of Morgantown will go before the jury on September 16.

The lawsuits claim that Morgantown paid the firefighter for 12 hours instead of 24 hours of the shift. In January 2020, Charleston officials negotiated a $1.7 million settlement with firefighters over the same issue. The settlement was finalized after seven months, and back pay of 10 years was compensated for more than 160 firefighters.

Earlier, four professional mediators tried to settle the litigation but failed, and the current court date in the lawsuit has come after two-and-a-half years.

The Morgantown city manager revised the policy that resulted in a $2,000 per year pay decrease for 52 firefighters. The manager explained that the policy revision was implemented considering the suggestion from the consultant. The firefighters declined the policy change by showing a vote of no confidence in the policy change.

Firefighters are firm on their stand of getting paid for 24 hours as per the state's statute- five years of corrected back pay even though the city has offered to pay for 18 hours.