WHEELING — A retired Wheeling Fire Department assistant chief says the city of Wheeling failed to properly pay him his "payout" when he retired.
Lawrence M. Murphy filed the lawsuit against Wheeling in Ohio Circuit Court alleging that when he retired after nearly 42 years in various capacities as a firefighter, the city provided him his pay-out of sick and vacation time, but did not include his longevity pay or EMT pay.
Murphy claims the city also failed to properly pay him his wages due to him as part of his participation in the City of Wheeling Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) and failed to pay holiday premiums correctly.
"The City of Wheeling and its employees in charge of payroll negligently failed to provide the proper amount of holiday compensation time and/or failed to pay Plaintiff the proper amount of holiday pay due them pursuant to W.Va. Code..." the complaint states.
Murphy claims he was paid for sick time and vacation time, but not the EMT pay or longevity play. He claims his payout was not an accurate representation of the pay he deserved.
Murphy claims there are orders that clearly show the correct way that West Virginia professional firefighters are to be paid regarding holidays from previous lawsuits filed in Hancock Circuit Court and Berkeley Circuit Court, where the judges in those courts laid out that firefighters are to be 36 hours of pay or 24 hours of paid time off if they work any part of a holiday.
"However, when the city of Wheeling paid Plaintiff Murphy holiday pay for days that he worked the holiday, the city only paid him half of the amount W.Va. Code...mandates that he be paid," the complaint states.
Murphy is seeking compensatory damages. He is represented by Teresa C. Toriseva and Joshua D. Miller of Toriseva Law in Wheeling.
Ohio Circuit Court case number: 21-C-57
