CHARLESTON — The West Virginia Department of Transportation Division of Highways denies allegations against it in a complaint by an employee who claims he hasn't been properly paid for his work.
In its answer to the complaint, filed April 27, the DOH says the plaintiff is not being underpaid.
"While the 'exhaustion of administrative remedies' doctrine may no longer apply in matters of this type, it is worth noting that ... the last amount upon which a negotiated settlement was attempted in this matter was (186.71)," the answer states.
The defendant argues that after alleging he was underpaid, he did not sign the proposed settlement, did not file a grievance and did not communicate with the defendant any further.
The plaintiff fails to state a claim and the defendant denies it is liable to the plaintiff and asserts that it may be immune from the plaintiff's claims.
Christopher Droppelman has been employed with the defendant since Sept. 8, 2015, and found out in May 2020 that he was not being given the proper pay upgrade amount for his work, according to a complaint filed in Kanawha Circuit Court.
Droppelman claims on May 13, 2021, he received a proposed settlement agreement from the defendant offering to supplement his pay for the time period between Oct. 1, 2019, and June 11, 2020, when he was not properly compensated. However, he says the defendant has still failed to properly compensate him.
"The amount offered by Defendant in the proposed settlement agreement did not amount to the total that was actually owed to Plaintiff at the time the offer was made," the complaint states. "Additionally, Defendant did not immediately correct the issue moving forward, causing more violations to occur in the months following the initial settlement offer."
Droppelman claims the defendant's failure to properly pay him totaled a loss of more than $3,156.87.
The defendant's actions constituted a violation of the West Virginia Wage Payment and Collection Act, according to the suit.
Droppelman is seeking compensatory damages. He is represented by Anthony Brunicardi, Walt Auvil and Kirk Auvil of The Employment Law Center in Parkersburg.
The defendant is represented by Brian D. Maconaughey of the DOH.
The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Kenneth Ballard.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 23-C-229