
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 23, 1994                   TAG: 9407210020
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                 LENGTH: Short

UNION SUES FOR PRISON STAFF'S BACK PAY

A union filed a lawsuit Wednesday charging that workers at the state's Marion Correctional Facility have been cheated out of overtime pay.

Local 3871 of the Virginia Alliance of State Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Abingdon.

Mary Schwanger, international union representative, said the amount of back pay owed to prison workers still is being calculated. She said the workers can collect up to three years of back pay if they prove the state deliberately violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

Schwanger said employees have been forced to work overtime without being paid for it. Also, she said, the state has improperly ruled some positions exempt from the federal wage law.

Mark Miner, spokesman for the state attorney general's office, said he could not comment on the lawsuit because lawyers in the office have not had time to review it.

Lillian Abrams, a union spokeswoman, said the union filed suit because the ``fundamental rights'' of the employees were being violated. ``These workers have the toughest jobs in society and, at the very least, deserve the rights guaranteed to them under the laws of this country,'' she said.

Schwanger said the union will file similar lawsuits on behalf of other employees in correctional and mental health facilities.

by CNB