The Charleston Gazette
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a Kanawha Circuit Court decision that ruled that the city’s Firemen’s Civil Service Commission correctly stated it did not have jurisdiction to address Charleston firefighter overtime pay.
“The Commission may only hear matters that involve the removal, discharge, suspension or reduction in rank or pay of any particular affected individual,” Justice Margaret Workman wrote in a 32-page opinion.
In late November 2011, firefighters Myron Boggess and William Gill filed the grievance with the Civil Service Commission on behalf of all members of Local 317, asking the commission to reinstate their former pay policies.
Firefighters previously were given Kelly days — one day off for every seven days worked — as a way to comply with federal and state wage rules while working 24-hour shifts.
The commission decided in January 2012 that it did not have jurisdiction in the matter, according to a 2012 Gazette-Mail report.
In 2011, the Gazette reported that the city had $1.4 million in annual overtime from its fire departments.
Charleston firefighters began protesting in that fall as City Council began discussing potential changes, attending meetings in high numbers and holding protests outside City Hall.
But the city implemented in 2012 a new formula to calculate overtime pay, reducing the rates that had been in effect since 1993. The city also approved a bill that made massive changes in overtime, vacation and sick-day benefits.
Now firefighters are required to work a 28-day, 212-hour work period before acquiring overtime pay.
While Boggess and Gill in their petition said the city could not alter the longstanding policies and, later, that it violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, Workman wrote that Charleston has “no contractual obligation to utilize a particular formula into perpetuity and neither the act of altering policy nor the resulting formula is prohibited by the FLSA.”
Charleston City Attorney Paul Ellis said the decision was “very important” for cities in the state.
“It affirms the opinion that cities have to have flexibility,” Ellis said. “Cities have to have discretion going forward with their budgets and their policies in order to live, in order to thrive.”
City Manager David Molgaard said he thinks “the Supreme Court got it absolutely right.”
“It was a very well reasoned opinion,” Molgaard said.
Both Charleston Fire Chief Scott Shaffer and Molgaard said they were glad a ruling had been made.
“I’m looking forward to sitting down with the departmental leaders and discussing operations and how they’re going and continuing to look for ways to more efficiently and effectively administer those type of policies, which may impact our ability to provide services,” Molgaard said.
“We’re looking forward to a better relationships with the city, working together instead of against one another,” Shaffer said.
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