West Virginia Supreme Court Denies City’s Latest Effort to Reverse Lower Court’s Decision in Firefighter Holiday Pay Dispute

In the latest bit of legal wrangling between the City of Martinsburg and its professional firefighters, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has denied the city’s appeal seeking to reverse an earlier ruling by a lower court, in favor of the firefighters. As a result, the 2018 lawsuit which centers around a highly unique West Virginia statute related to paid firefighters and holiday pay, may finally be coming to an end.

The city wanted the state’s highest court to reverse Circuit Judge Laura Faircloth’s 2020 decision in which the judge found the city violated West Virginia law by failing to properly compensate its city firefighters for decades. West Virginia law requires that paid firefighters in the state receive either 24 hours of comp time, or in the alternative 24 hours of time and one-half for all legal holidays. Many West Virginia cities have found themselves at odds with firefighters over this highly unique state statute, however, most have been able to avoid protracted litigation, like that found here.

For more on the judge’s original ruling from FireFighterOvertime.org, click here.

For more on the latest developments from The West Virginia Record, click here.