Case: Wage & Hour/Wage Assignments (W. Va.)

A trial court properly found that Fairmont Tools Inc. violated the West Virginia Wage Payment and Collection Act by wrongfully taking assignments in the form of paycheck deductions for uniforms, boots, tools, and other protective equipment that its workers needed to perform their hazardous jobs, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia ruled. The company made withholdings from the wages of its employees that met the WPCA’s definition of an assignment, but never procured from its employees a writing that complied with the conditions set in the WPCA for a valid assignment, the court said, and thus, the assignments ...