Virginia State Police Chapter Files Lawsuit Against the Commonwealth of Virginia

Dec 3, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Sean McGowan

VAPBA Executive Director

smcgowan@sspba.org

Virginia State Police Chapter Files Lawsuit Against the Commonwealth of Virginia

(December 3rd) – The Virginia State Police chapter of the Virginia Police Benevolent Association has filed a lawsuit against the Commonwealth of Virginia over a failure to pay overtime wages on behalf of its members. The Simms Showers LLP law firm is representing the affected members. This lawsuit stems from the failure of the Commonwealth of Virginia to pay overtime wages to members in violation of the Fair Labor & Standards Act and Virginia Overtime Wage Act.

Members of the Virginia State Police Chapter began to report pay problems as they discovered overtime hours missing from their paychecks. There are numerous documented cases where members of the Virginia State Police Chapter were not paid their earned wages or their earned wages were not paid on time. In one such instance, a member was not paid for overtime which was earned on January 6th while supporting the United States Capitol Police mission to protect the United States Capitol. Another member is missing overtime wages that were not paid since May 2021. At least 27 members have been affected by the overtime pay crisis that started as early as January 2021 within the Virginia State Police. At this time, Virginia State Police Chapter members are still continuing to report missing overtime payments with every pay period that goes by.

The Virginia State Police Chapter of the Virginia Police Benevolent Association and the Simms Showers LLP law firm has reached out to Virginia State government officials at the Virginia State Police and Virginia Department of Accounts through various channels in an attempt to have the pay issues corrected prior to filing litigation in Richmond Circuit Court.  The Southern States Police Benevolent Association will continue to work on behalf of its membership to correct these problems. Any media inquiries can be directed to the Southern States Police Benevolent Association or the Simms Showers LLP law firm.

The Virginia Police Benevolent Association is a division of the Southern States Police Benevolent Association, Inc., a not-for-profit professional organization dedicated to improving the law enforcement profession.  PBA members are full-time or retired employees of the various federal, state, county and municipal law enforcement and correctional agencies in Virginia.  This professional association, funded by membership dues and citizen contributions, provides legal, legislative, disciplinary and other representation to member officers as well as an accidental death benefit to members’ beneficiaries.  The PBA prohibits members from engaging in or condoning any strike by law enforcement officers, electing instead to represent members through aggressive political action. For more information, please visit our website at www.vapba.org.

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