MORGANTOWN — Morgantown’s firefighters are earning about $2,000 less a year after the city changed their pay.
Morgantown said it’s just applying the shift differential pay rules correctly after discovering an error. Firefighters say it’s retaliation over their refusal to take the city’s settlement offer in a lawsuit over how holiday pay is calculated.
On May 12, the Morgantown Fire Civil Service Commission will hold a hearing over the pay differential dispute.
The commission met Wednesday morning to decide if it had the authority to even do so and heard arguments from attorneys for Morgantown and the International Association of Firefighters Local 313.
“Following the existing personnel rules is not retaliation,” Morgantown attorney Ryan Simonton said.
If the firefighters do feel the move was retaliation, they should take it to circuit court, which is a more proper venue, he argued. Simonton said the change was a “general pay practice” and not something the fire civil service commission had jurisdiction to hear.
“Retaliation is discipline,” IAFF 313 attorney Teresa Toriseva said. “Discipline in another form.”
And discipline is something the commission can hold hearings on. Toriseva said the only difference between this and an individual back wage case or sexual harassment is scale — 47 firefighters are affected instead of just one.
Even if the case went to circuit court, it would get kicked back to the fire civil service commission to submit evidence, Toriseva argued.
“It is a change. It is a reduction of pay,” Commissioner Michael Jacks said. “We’re not deciding yet whether we ultimately have the authority to do anything about it. We may decide this happened, but we can’t change it.”
However, Jacks said there should be the opportunity to build a record — the hearing will have evidence and witness testimony — so any decision can be appealed. He said not holding one would just be kicking the can down the road and make it harder for a judge to deal with in the future.
He also requested the city and firefighters try to work it out with mediation before the hearing, acknowledging he had no specific authority under state code to order them to do so.
Both sides agreed to the mediation attempt, which will be complete by April 30.
“Just sharing what my personal opinion on this is, which is not the commission’s opinion, if the firefighters can change the shift start time, and they change it to 8:01 p.m., you guys have to pay the money. Right? If that’s how this is being played. So, to me, let’s work it out,” Jacks said.
Shift differential is a small boost in hourly pay for employees who work the afternoon or night shift. The city’s rules state the pay applies to employees who start those shifts during designated hours. Firefighters start their 24-hour shifts at 8 a.m. — which does not fall within those hours.
Historically, the shift differential pay has been paid for those evening and afternoon shift hours and it’s advertised as a benefit in the city’s firefighter recruitment literature.
Other city departments, such as public works, police and parking authority employees, also take advantage of shift pay. However, firefighters are the only city employees to work 24-hour shifts.
Jacks also said there’s potential for this to all be cleared up through city council with the creation of a rule that addresses shift differential pay for 24-hour employees.
“Again, my point there for the city is if the firefighters just move their shift start time to 8:01 and then get the pay, you’re not really saving the city money. And what was the point of the whole dispute other than now the firefighters come in at a different time, which doesn’t impact anyone but the firefighters?” Jacks asked.
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