Matthew Whitler, Shareholder, attended the November membership meeting of the Eastern Panhandle Society for Human Resource Management where he presented an update on recent legislation in West Virginia affecting employment law.
Mr. Whitler defends corporations in toxic tort lawsuits, class actions and fire loss claims throughout West Virginia as well as manufacturers and distributors in product liability actions. Additionally, Mr. Whitler represents insurance companies, self-insured employers and governmental agencies in workers’ compensation claims and represents insurance companies in declaratory judgment actions in state and federal courts.
According to Mr. Whitler’s presentation, the statute of limitation for the West Virginia Wage Payment and Collection Act (a remedial statute intended to assist employees in the recovery of wrongfully withheld wages) is five years. He further described the impact of the change of law in that employers may have a little more time to pay discharged employees, depending on how the next pay period falls, and the new law specifically allows employers to pay discharged employees through their normal payroll process. However, Mr. Whitler cited a few potential problems from this new law. Employers will now have to calculate whether final wages are due within four business days or by the next payday, making it possible that an employee could be owed a final paycheck on the day of discharge if he or she is fired on a regular payday.
Other areas of interest Mr. Whitler discussed were vacation time, sick leave, fringe benefits, commissions, bonuses, and penalties for violations of the West Virginia Wage Payment and Collection Act.
