CHARLESTON — The state Supreme Court has ruled a senior status circuit judge was correct in granting summary judgment to the state by rejecting an appeal from five state employees who claimed they were shortchanged by a payroll cycle change.
On April 20, the justices affirmed the ruling made last year by Judge Thomas Evans, who sided with the state and said the employees are not owed any pay. The employees had argued that the switch of pay cycles from twice a month to every two weeks left them missing some of their salaries.
“We fought hard for West Virginia state workers’ wages,” Teresa Toriseva, one of the attorneys representing the employees, told
CHARLESTON – The state Supreme Court will decide whether to remand a case involving state employees who claim they were shortchanged when the state switched from twice monthly to biweekly pay.
The petition was heard March 16. The petitioners – Lisa Wilkinson, Heather Morris, Kathryn A. Bradley, Pamela Stumpf and Lula V. Dickerson – are five state employees. But the case could affect up to 40,000 public employees. The respondents are Gov. Jim Justice, Auditor John B. McCuskey, former Treasurer John Perdue, Secretary of State Mac Warner, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and state Supreme Court Chief Justice Evan Jenkins.
During the March 16 oral arguments, attorney Mike Ranson presented the case for the petitioners. He argued that the employee simply were not fully paid in the 2017 calendar year because of the state’s switch from twice monthly pay to biweekly. Bryan R. Cokeley presented the case for the respondents, who say the petitioners have identified no conduct that violates a clearly established law and, therefore, the state entities are entitled to qualified immunity.