WHEELING – Ohio County’s longtime humane officer says he is owed years of overtime.
Doug McCroskey Jr. filed his complaint March 10 in Ohio Circuit Court against the Ohio County Commission.
According to his complaint, McCroskey worked for the county for 36 years, 25 of them as a Ohio County Humane Officer, Dog Warden and director of the Ohio County Animal Shelter. He retired in November
Toriseva
In his 36 years with the county, McCroskey says he only used one day of sick time in his entire career.
Yet, “McCroskey was not paid overtime for work he completed in excess of forty hours per week,” the complaint states. “McCroskey worked over 40 hours each week.”
McCroskey says he was “on-call” at all times and regularly responded to emergency situations during evenings, weekends, and holidays when he received work calls.
“Mr. McCroskey was not paid for his response to these on call situations nor was Mr. McCroskey paid any additional wage, stipend, or rate for being on-call,” the complaint states.
The complaint says other Ohio County department heads received overtime pay, but McCroskey’s paystubs label his wages as “hourly.” Other county employee paystubs say “salary” for wages of those that are salary employees.
He also says that at times when he had an assistant, the assistant received overtime pay as well as a fixed daily on-call rate.
“In an attempt to circumvent overtime pay requirements, the defendant classified Mr. McCroskey as an ‘exempt’ employee,” the complaint states. “Mr. McCroskey was unfamiliar with the designations of exempt or non-exempt until a meeting with County Administrator Randy Russell during the summer of 2021 wherein Mr. McCroskey was informed he was exempt from overtime and what exempt meant.
“The exempt or non-exempt classification is crucial as it determines what employees are entitled to certain protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act. …
“McCroskey is a non-exempt employee that is owed years of overtime.”
The complaint notes that the Ohio County Commission currently is advertising to fill the position McCroskey left when he retired. It says two people will be hired to fill the position. The Dog Warden/Humane Officer position will be paid overtime. The Shelter Manager position is advertised as exempt with no overtime pay.
McCroskey accuses the commission of violating the West Virginia Wage Payment and Collection Act, not compensating him for overtime and not paying him in a timely manner.
He seeks compensatory damages, including liquidated damages for two times the amount of McCroskey’s owed overtime wages under the WVWPCA plus interest. He also seeks court costs and attorney fees.
McCroskey is being represented by Teresa Toriseva, Joshua Miller and Michael Kuhn of Toriseva Law in Wheeling. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge David J. Sims.
Ohio Circuit Court case number 22-C-37