Jayson Nicewarner v. City of Morgantown
| Docket Number | 22-0185 |
| Decision Date | 08 November 2023 |
| Parties | JAYSON NICEWARNER, et al., Petitioners, v. THE CITY OF MORGANTOWN, Respondent. |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
Submitted: September 13, 2023
Appeal from the Circuit Court of Monongalia County The Honorable Phillip D. Gaujot, Judge Civil Action No. 19-C-167
Teresa C. Toriseva, Esq. Joshua D. Miller, Esq. Michael A. Kuhn Esq. TORISEVA LAW Wheeling, West Virginia Counsel for the Petitioners
Ryan P. Simonton, Esq. Erin J. Webb, Esq. Matthew D. Elshiaty Esq. KAY CASTO & CHANEY PLLC Morgantown, West Virginia Counsel for the Respondent
SYLLABUS BY THE COURT
1. "Interpreting a statute or an administrative rule or regulation presents a purely legal question subject to de novo review." Syl. Pt. 1, Appalachian Power Co v. State Tax Dep't of W.Va., 195 W.Va. 573, 466 S.E.2d 424 (1995).
2. "The primary rule of statutory construction is to ascertain and give effect to the intention of the Legislature." Syl. Pt. 8, Vest v. Cobb, 138 W.Va. 660, 76 S.E.2d 885 (1953).
3. "When a statute is clear and unambiguous and the legislative intent is plain, the statute should not be interpreted by the courts, and in such case it is the duty of the courts not to construe but to apply the statute." Syl. Pt. 5, State v. Gen. Daniel Morgan Post No. 548, Veterans of Foreign Wars, 144 W.Va. 137, 107 S.E.2d 353 (1959).
4. Under West Virginia Code § 8-15-10a (2004), firefighters are entitled to either additional pay or time off, as chosen by their employer, for each legal holiday equal to the hours worked during the holiday or, when a legal holiday falls on a firefighter's regular scheduled day off, for the hours that he or she would have worked.
The petitioners in this case are fifty-four current and former firefighters employed by the respondent, the City of Morgantown, West Virginia ("the City").[1] The firefighters brought this case seeking an interpretation of West Virginia Code § 8-15-10a (2004) ("Section 10a"), which requires the City to provide extra compensation to firefighters for those days designated by the West Virginia Legislature as legal holidays.
The circuit court granted summary judgment, in part, to the firefighters finding that the City had incorrectly calculated the firefighters' compensation under Section 10a. However, the circuit court also granted summary judgment, in part, to the City, finding that the compensation required by Section 10a was not a "fringe benefit" or "wage" covered by the Wage Payment and Collection Act ("the WPCA"). In so doing, the circuit court reduced the period of time, from five years to two years, that currently employed firefighters could recover improperly calculated compensation. Moreover, the circuit court imposed the doctrine of laches, thereby depriving former firefighters of any past compensation.
As set forth below, we affirm the circuit court's order, in part, finding the City incorrectly interpreted Section 10a. However, we reverse the circuit court's order, in part, because we find that Section 10a created a fringe or wage benefit for firefighters that is protected by the WPCA. Hence, the doctrine of laches does not apply, and the claims by all firefighters are limited to the five-year period usually available under the WPCA.
West Virginia state law specifies that "the members of a paid fire department" may be required to work a maximum of twenty-four hours per day, up to a maximum of 112 hours every fourteen days. W.Va. Code § 8-15-10. For time immemorial, firefighters employed by the City have worked twenty-four-hour shifts that start daily at 8:00 in the morning. Hence, a firefighter starting his or her day at 8:00 a.m. will work sixteen hours that calendar day, and then finish the shift by working eight hours, from midnight to 8:00 a.m., the following calendar day.
The City employs three rotating shifts of firefighters. Under this schedule, a full-time City firefighter, on average, would be scheduled to work fifty-six hours per week, 112 hours every two weeks. Firefighters are paid a standard wage for the first forty hours worked in a week, and time-and-a-half the standard wage for the remaining sixteen hours.
This case concerns "legal holidays." The West Virginia Legislature has designated twelve days, such as Memorial Day or Christmas, as "legal holidays." The Legislature has also designated as legal holidays most election days and those days proclaimed as "a day for the general cessation of business" by the Governor or President. See W.Va. Code 2-2-1(a) (2006).[2] See generally Mitchell v. City of Wheeling, 202 W.Va. 85, 502 S.E.2d 182 (1998) (). Most West Virginia government employees do not work on legal holidays. However, for the safety and security of the public, there must be firefighters on duty all day and every day. Hence, firefighters must work, according to their schedule, whether or not those days are designated as legal holidays.
Because firefighters "are required to work on a holiday when most employees are off," the Legislature adopted Section 10a to provide firefighters with "enhanced benefits." Pullano v. City of Bluefield, 176 W.Va. 198, 204-05, 342 S.E.2d 164, 171 (1986). Section 10a provides that if a firefighter either is required to "work during a legal holiday," or if the legal holiday falls on the firefighter's regular scheduled day off, then the City must provide extra compensation to the firefighter. The parties agree that, under Section 10a, the City chooses the form of extra compensation: it may compensate a firefighter with either "equal time off" or by the payment of extra wages "at a rate not less than one and one-half times his or her regular rate of pay[.]"[3] In this case, the City chose to afford its firefighters "equal time off" for legal holidays. However, the City did not calculate each firefighter's time off based upon their actual hours "work[ed] during a legal holiday" or the time they were scheduled off for the holiday. Instead, at the beginning of every year, the City would grant each firefighter 156 hours of leave equivalent to the thirteen legal holidays anticipated to occur in the upcoming year (except in years with primary or general elections, each firefighter received 168 hours). A firefighter could "bank" the extra paid time off and use it throughout the year, including using the extra leave before the occurrence of the holiday.
In effect, for each legal holiday, the City afforded each firefighter twelve hours of time off irrespective of the firefighter's work schedule. As a result, a firefighter who worked on a legal holiday for eight hours (midnight to 8:00 a.m.) and a firefighter who worked sixteen hours (8 a.m. to midnight) would each receive twelve hours of leave time at the beginning of each year. The compensation system also failed to account for firefighters working overtime on a legal holiday. The record suggests that this compensation system for legal holidays has been in effect for decades, given that the firefighters' union sent letters asking the City to alter its legal holiday pay system in 1985, 1990, 1997, 2000, and 2002.
On June 7, 2019, fifty-four current and former firefighters sued the City of Morgantown in a three-count complaint regarding their statutory compensation for legal holidays. The firefighters generally asserted that, under Section 10a, the City was required to compensate firefighters for the entire legal holiday - that is, for twenty-four hours of time off (or, alternatively, twenty-four hours of pay at time-and-a-half). In the first count, the firefighters argued that the City had failed to afford them the proper amount of holiday compensation under the statute, and they demanded to be compensated in cash and interest for the amounts they failed to receive. In the second count, the firefighters alleged the City's failure to correctly compensate them violated the WPCA, W.Va. Code § 21-5-1 to -18, entitling the firefighters to remedies under the WPCA. In count three, the firefighters sought a declaratory judgment that they were entitled to one-and-a-half times their regular rate of pay for legal holidays, and they asked for the appointment of a commissioner to calculate the past compensation due under Section 10a.[4]
After discovery and several failed mediations, the parties moved for summary judgment. In a final order dated February 9, 2022, the circuit court granted summary judgment on some questions to the City, and summary judgment to the firefighters on other questions.[5] As to count one, the circuit court rejected the firefighters' demand for cash damages. Because Section 10a grants municipalities the option of affording firefighters with either "equal time off" or pay "at a rate not less than one and one-half times his or her regular rate of pay" for legal holidays, and the City had chosen the option to grant time off for legal holidays, the circuit court determined the firefighters had no right to extra pay in the form of cash damages. This ruling applied to both current and former firefighters. Accordingly, the circuit court dismissed count one.
Count two concerned the application of the WPCA to the compensation required by Section 10a. The WPCA defines "wages" as "compensation for labor or services rendered by an employee," but also as "accrued fringe benefits capable of calculation and payable directly to an employee[.]" W.Va. Code § 21-5-1(c) (2021).[6] The circuit court determined that the "real issue in dispute is not 'wages,'" largely because nothing in Section 10a or the City's ...
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