WELLSBURG – Seventeen current and former Brooke County sheriff’s deputies have sued the county commission over issues involving pay, discrimination and retaliation.
The complaint was filed November 14 in Brooke Circuit Court. The plaintiffs are Chief Deputy Douglas Mills, Corporal Devon Baker, Deputy Kenneth Shuman, Sergeant Kristen Richmond-Siranovic, Sergeant Shane Siranovic, Corporal Gary Conley, Deputy Kaylin Ferguson, Captain Scott Zeigler, Deputy Caleb Minger, Deputy Nicholas Alexander, Sergeant Timothy R. Robertson Jr., Corporal Megan Himmelrick, Lieutenant Klyer Ferguson, Deputy Johnathon Tober, Corporal Shane Logston, Sergeant Nile Cline and Lieutenant Mathew Beatty.
The deputies are being represented by Toriseva Law, which has handled similar cases for other first responders across the state.
Toriseva
“When West Virginia law isn’t followed with respect to the wages and working conditions of first responders like Sheriff’s Deputies, it threatens public safety,” attorney Teresa Toriseva told The West Virginia Record.
According to the complaint, the county denied the plaintiffs “COVID pay” during the pandemic despite providing it to other employees. It says other county employees saw pay increases for hourly work compared to what they were paid before the pandemic because of reduced shifts and fewer hours. Meanwhile, the plaintiffs say they continued to work around the clock, even taking on additional duties such as providing security at the courthouse, taking citizens’ temperatures and ascertaining potential COVID-19 exposure of people wanting to enter the facility.
“In November 2020, after months of working extra duties for no additional pay, the plaintiffs requested extra hazard pay compensation from the defendant-county to reflect their efforts during the pandemic,” the complaint states. “During the defendant’s regularly held public meeting, plaintiff Conley read a letter, prepared by him and the Brooke County Deputy Sheriff Association, requesting the additional compensation and the use of federal funds under the CARES Act for first responders. The same gross amount of money working less hours.
“The defendant-county downplayed the plaintiffs’ concerns and summarily dismissed the plaintiffs’ request for the COVID Pay Rate or for the hazard pay for working through the COVID-19 pandemic.”
In addition, the plaintiffs say the county does not properly pay them for overtime hours worked. They say the county “does not accurately track and pay the plaintiffs for their work hours” and that the matter is “compounded by the defendant-county’s poorly equipped and wholly inadequate timekeeping systems.”
The plaintiffs say the county also does not properly pay them for longevity pay since July. That has resulted in reducing their pay and benefits such as overtime pay and retirement contributions. They also say the county doesn’t properly pay them for holiday work.
Furthermore, the deputies say the county does not pay them correctly for holidays.
“When a Sheriff’s Deputy is paid for his or her accumulated Holiday Pay equal time off, without the ability to actually use any of the accrued time off, it is paid to the Sheriff Deputy at his or her regular rate of pay,” the complaint states. “When a Sheriff’s Deputy is paid for his or her accumulated Holiday Pay equal time off, without the ability to actually use any of the accrued time off, (state code) requires that it is paid at a rate of not less than one-and-a-half times his or her regular rate of pay.”
They also say they are not treated as a county employee when they are required to perform extra duty work “despite wearing his or her badge, carrying his or her service weapon, driving a county cruiser, and wearing his or her Sheriff’s Deputy uniform.” They say those hours do not count for overtime purposes and payroll purposes, and they say they aren’t provided workers’ compensation coverage for the extra duty work.
Also, the complaint says the county unlawfully discriminated against Minger because he has a genetic blood disorder.
Minger was hired in January 2023. In April, the county’s health insurance carrier said it would be increasing premiums because of the cost of the prescription medication Minger uses.
The county didn’t know which employee used the medication, but the complaint says it launched an internal investigation to learn who it was. Then, the plaintiffs say the county started a campaign against Minger, telling Sheriff Richard Beatty Jr. to fire him. But Beatty refused to do so, according to the complaint.
In May 2023, former chief deputy Scott Adams met with Minger, Beatty and county commissioners to discuss Minger’s medical condition. In that meeting, the plaintiffs say the county “invaded” Minger’s medical privacy and called his doctor to discuss the health condition, asking if there was “a cheaper medication” he could use.
“Minger’s medical doctor informed the defendant that plaintiff Minger’s prescription medication was not only necessary and life-saving, but that there was no cheaper medicine available,” the complaint states. The county soon threatened to cut the sheriff’s department budget by $200,000 if Minger wasn’t fired, according to the complaint.
“The plaintiffs organized and refused to allow plaintiff Minger to be terminated,” the complaint states. “The defendant-county did in fact reduce the plaintiffs’ pay for organizing and for standing up for plaintiff Minger by increasing their insurance premiums and by reducing the amount in raises the Brooke County Sheriff’s Deputies were expecting.”
The plaintiffs say Minger was forced to resign on July 31 because of the unlawful and discriminatory conduct.
The deputies accuse the county of violating the West Virginia Human Rights Act, of disparate treatment and of constructive discharge for its handling of Minger. They also accuse the county of unlawful retaliation against them and unlawful retaliation against them for engaging in protected activity as well as violations of the state Wage Payment and Collection Act regarding COVID pay, longevity pay, holiday pay, overtime pay and pay for extra duty work.
The plaintiffs seek to recover lost wages for incorrect pay practices and policies that fail to properly comply with the Deputy Civil Service Rules, the Brooke County Sheriff’s Department’s Administrative Rules, Regulations, Operational Policies and Procedures, general orders and West Virginia Law. They also seek a declaratory judgment regarding the extra duty work performed by deputies.
The deputies seek compensatory damages, interest, attorney fees, court costs and other relief.
They are being represented by Toriseva and Joshua Miller of Toriseva Law in Wheeling. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Jason Cuomo.
Brooke Circuit Court case number 23-C-81
