A former Kanawha County bus driver's federal lawsuit over a supervisor deleting hours she entered on a time clock has been ongoing for a year, and her attorney is criticizing the school system for not already paying her the full time she says she's owed.
In March 2015, Debra Rose filed suit against the school system, alleging Peggy Stone, who is still the Elkview bus terminal's supervisor, required her to clock in and out "not only at the beginning and ending of each bus trip, but also upon the beginning and ending of each individual task performed throughout the day that results in creditable working time."
Rose said this was inconsistent with written school system policy. She also said Stone deleted time she put on the clock without first contacting her, despite policy stating that "Management, with the employee's acknowledgment only, will do correction of time records."
Mark Toor, Rose's Charleston-based lawyer, said the time clock alterations took place over five years and total $3,500 in lost pay, meaning Rose could recover that and a further $3,500 in "liquidated damages" at trial. If the case is successful, he said the law will also let him recover attorney fees, which are already "substantially more than she could recover" and are increasing the longer the case takes.
Rose's suit goes on to allege Stone retaliated against her for requesting time sheet records by denying two personal leave days that Rose requested.
Rose then, according to the suit, took sick leave for those two days anyway, and the Kanawha school board responded by suspending her for two days without pay. Rose also alleges she told a higher up in the school system about Stone altering her time records before she requested the documents from Stone - yet school system officials didn't investigate the allegations.
Charleston-based attorney Chuck Bailey, who is representing the school system in the case, said "time was redacted, but we believe that the redaction was appropriate." But, citing the ongoing litigation, he declined to comment further on why he believes it was appropriate.
Jim Withrow, who is the school board's general counsel but said he isn't involved in the case, said Rose violated school system policy by clocking in too early, but Stone also violated policy by changing her punch in and punch out times.
He said supervisors are supposed to speak with workers who clock in too early and discipline them if they continue to do so, but said that in the wake of Rose's allegations, "We have made it clear to all of our supervisors that they were not to change anybody's time cards." He said he couldn't discuss whether Stone has been disciplined.
Toor sent the Gazette-Mail parts of transcripts from a grievance Rose previously filed against the school system, in which Stone testified that the school system's retired transportation director, George Beckett, told her to watch her employees and change their time if they were "on the clock too long."
When Toor asked her what that meant, Stone responded:
"She came in, she clocked in, she's [sitting] out in the lounge and she's not doing anything on the bus, she's just [sitting] out there, or if she is [sitting] on the bus waiting for somebody to deliver cake pops to her bus for fifteen minutes, then yes we alter her punch."
Later in the hearing, Stone noted the policy states that "under normal circumstances, no manager or supervisor should be changing or editing employee punch times," and questioned what "normal circumstances" meant.
Toor wrote in an email to the Gazette-Mail that he's demanded the school system "do the right thing as a public employer and pay my client for all of the time that was stolen from her" - even the time that may go beyond the statute of limitations that limits how much money the school system could legally be liable to pay her for.
He said the school system doesn't intend to pay anything beyond the three-year statute of limitations, meaning Rose will be deprived of two years of overtime compensation.
He also wrote that the school system's attorneys have "slow-walked this case" because he believes there are current Kanawha bus drivers who are waiting for the outcome to sue themselves. The statute of limitations means that for each day they wait, they'll be recovering pay for less allegedly deleted work time.
Kanawha schools Superintendent Ron Duerring said he wouldn't comment because of the litigation. When asked if he was purposefully stalling the case, Bailey said it "never crossed my mind" and said "any suggestion otherwise is completely ridiculous."
Bailey has filed a motion to dismiss Rose's lawsuit. He argues the federal law Toor cited doesn't allow for a private lawsuit.
"As far as I'm concerned, based on the motion I've filed, he doesn't even have a cause of action to move forward with," Bailey said.
Reach Ryan Quinn at
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