filterrific_sorting_link behavior different than sort options

[JenniferMB]

I have an HTML table on my view with a date field that I am transforming to text using the timeago gem. I have a leftnav area with a dropdown selection box which will sort the date values ascending and descending, when I apply the filter. This works beautifully.
I have assigned the filterrific_sorting_link to the head of the column. When I click the header to toggle the sort direction, the formatting reverts to plain date values until I paginate, then the timeago text is once again applied.
How can I configure the filterrific_sorting_link action to match that of the ordering filter?
Thank you for your time and attention.