PRINCETON – Bluefield firefighters allege the city has systematically underpaid them by miscalculating their regular hourly rate and overtime for decades.
The firefighters filed their complaint March 4 in Mercer Circuit Court against the City of Bluefield.
The plaintiffs are current members of the city fire department, which is a paid professional department. They work 24-hour shifts and regularly are scheduled to work about 2,912 hours a year. That’s about 41 percent more hours per year than a typical full-time employee, according to the complaint.
Toriseva
“Often we find that when professional firefighters are grossly underpaid, as they are in Bluefield, that it’s because the city is NOT correctly calculating the firefighters’ hourly rate,” attorney Teresa Toriseva told The West Virginia Record. “The overtime pay loss that follows that mistake is substantial.”
The lawsuit seeks to recover the plaintiffs’ unpaid wages and overtime compensation.
“Each of the plaintiffs works hundreds of hours of overtime per year,” the complaint states. “For decades, the city has not paid the plaintiffs overtime compensation consistent with either state or federal law. The city has failed to properly calculate each plaintiff’s regular rate of pay and has been underpaying each employee for decades.
“Because the plaintiff’s regular rate of pay has been miscalculated, the city has not been paying the plaintiffs their overtime compensation correctly. The city’s miscalculations have artificially reduced the plaintiffs’ pay to the tune of millions of dollars.”
The complaint says improper pay practices by the city has caused the fire department to face a critical personnel shortage.
“The Fire Department is struggling to recruit new talent and to retain the firefighters it does currently employ in order to maintain adequate coverage in its fire houses,” the complaint states.
It says Bluefield firefighters previously signed a yearly benefits package upon hiring. But it says that hasn’t been done for a few years because of new Human Resources managers.
When firefighters typically are promoted, they receive another written agreement indicating the promotion and a new increased base salary rate. They also receive longevity pay for length of service as well as special assignment pay, which is similar to hazard pay.
The complaint says longevity pay was removed in 2024 without notice, and it says Bluefield firefighters do not receive hazard pay.
“This means, for example, a Bluefield firefighter with 10 years on the job, makes
$13.26 per hour,” the complaint states. “This is one of the lowest hourly rates for firefighters in the State of West Virginia. The Bluefield firefighter is scheduled to work 2,912 hours per year or 56 hours per week.”
The complaint notes Bluefield City Manager Cecil Marson makes $162,000 per year, which is 243% higher than the average Bluefield employee.
“The Bluefield City Manager makes 328% more than a firefighter and is scheduled to work 40% less hours,” the complaint states. “The City Manager makes $77.88 per hour based upon a 40-hour work week.”
The complaint also compares Marson’s salary to other West Virginia city managers while noting Bluefield has a population of 9,658.
Huntington’s City Manager makes $103,000 annually, and Huntington has a population of 44,492. Weirton’s City Manager (population 19,163) makes $112,024 annually. Wheeling’s City Manager (population 27,062) makes $113,000 a year. Princeton’s City Manager (population 5,872) makes $105,085 annually.
“If a Bluefield firefighter inquires with Bluefield City Manager Cecil Marson about firefighter pay, City Manager Marson tells the firefighter they should not compare their salaries to all West Virginia cities, but only compare them to Princeton, West Virginia, even though City Manager Marson makes 54% more money than his counterpart at the City of Princeton,” the complaint states.
The plaintiffs say that despite written agreements saying firefighters are compensated on the basis of an annual salary, each plaintiff is paid hourly for the hours worked at the Fire Department.
“The issue in this case is that the city has failed, for decades, to accurately calculate each plaintiff’s hourly rate from the plaintiff’s respective annual salary,” the complaint states. “Since at least the 1950s, the city has calculated its fire fighters’ hourly pay based on 3,328 hours per year.”
It says no one knows why the hourly pay is based on that number, when it was calculated or when it was calculated because none of the firefighters are scheduled to work 3,328 hours in a year.
The complaint claims the city’s use of 3,328 hours to calculate the firefighters’ regular rate of pay “impermissibly decreases” the firefighters’ actual regular rate of pay.
“The city’s erroneous use of the 3,328-hour figure has led to a chronic miscalculation of the plaintiffs’ regular rate of hourly pay and overtime pay rate,” the complaint states.
According to the city’s Handbook that was modified last year, the city provides compensation for overtime hours. It says non-exempt city employees will be paid overtime at the rate of one and one-half times their regular rate of pay.
But because the city has incorrectly calculated the firefighters’ regular rate of pay, the complaint says their overtime rate of pay is also incorrect. It also says there is no stated policy or mathematical calculation for how the city calculates a firefighter’s regular rate of hourly pay from the stated annual salary.
It says the city’s calculation of a firefighter’s regular rate of hourly pay, when derived from a stated annual salary, is inconsistent with West Virginia law.
The plaintiffs accuse the city of violating the West Virginia minimum wage and maximum hours standards and of violating the West Virginia Wage Payment and Collection Act for failing to properly calculate their regular rate of pay.
They also claim the city has violated the Wage Payment and Collection Act for failing to promptly pay wages when due, and they seek liquidated damages for the city failing to pay them for their accumulated overtime earned. They also accuse the city of breach of employment agreement.
They seek injunctive relief, declaratory relief, compensatory damages, interest, liquidated damages, court costs, attorney fees and other relief.
The 13 plaintiffs are Firefighter Justin Cline, Captain Adrian Conner, Captain Mathew Pettry, Captain Shannon Akers, Captain Robert Stevenson, Lieutenant Brandon McKinney, Lieutenant Bryan Carr, Firefighter Ricky Taylor, Firefighter Mathew Bowels, Firefighter Micha Burroughs, Firefighter First Class George Miller, Firefighter Rodji Seldon and Firefighter Brendon Warden. Cline is the president of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 347.
The firefighters are being represented by Toriseva and Joshua Miller of Toriseva Law in Wheeling. The firm has represented firefighters and police officers across the state in numerous similar lawsuits in recent years.
The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Mark Wills.
Mercer Circuit Court case number 26-C-50
