Labor and Employment

Passed

P HB472

Payment of wages and salaries; prepaid debit cards. Eliminates the requirement that payments of wages by prepaid debit cards be deposited into a trust account. Payments of wages by credit to prepaid debit cards or card accounts are specifically authorized, provided the employee affirmatively consents and the employer discloses any applicable fees.
Patron - Nixon

P HB687

Commissioner of Labor and Industry. Provides that any reference to the Commissioner of Labor and Industry shall include his authorized representatives, except where the context clearly indicates the contrary. The bill allows the Commissioner to appoint a designated representative to carry out functions assigned to the Commissioner. Under current law, the Commissioner can appoint designated representatives in the occupational safety and health area, but his ability to make such appointments in other areas is not explicit.
Patron - Morgan

P SB136

Department of Labor and Industry; disclosure of information. Directs licensed emergency medical services agencies to release to the Commissioner of the Department of Labor and Industry, or his designee, certain prehospital patient care reports when such records are requested for a patient who has suffered an injury, disability, or death resulting from an accident or illness while engaged in his employment. The Commissioner shall only disclose such information in compliance with federal regulations and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.
Patron - Lambert

Failed

F SB22

Labor; minimum wage. Establishes the state minimum wage at $6.50 per hour. Under current law, employers are required to pay a wage not less than the federal minimum wage and a training wage prescribed by the Fair Labor Standards Act. The federal minimum wage presently is $5.15 per hour.
Patron - Miller

F SB27

Parental leave for school involvement. Requires employers to permit employees, who are parents or guardians of, or who stand in loco parentis to, a school-aged child, to take up to four hours of leave annually in order to attend or otherwise be involved in the child's school. The employer and employee must mutually agree to the time for the leave, the leave need not be compensated, and the employer may require both 48-hours advance notice of the leave and written verification from the school of the employee's involvement in the school.
Patron - Potts

F SB428

Minimum wage. Prohibits any public body from requiring an employer, or his subcontractor, that contracts to provide goods or services to the public body, to pay its employees a minimum wage that exceeds the federal minimum wage.
Patron - Wagner

F SB475

Employment discrimination; prior convictions. Prohibits discrimination in employment on the grounds that an individual has been convicted of one or more criminal offenses, unless the criminal conviction relates directly to the occupation or profession for which employment is sought.
Patron - Ticer

Carried Over

C HB526

Department of Workforce Development. Creates the Department of Workforce Development, which reports to the Secretary of Commerce and Trade. The Department will serve as the administrator and fiscal agent for the Workforce Development Program, which program includes nearly every federal and state workforce training program and resource available to the Commonwealth and now being administered within several different state agencies. The Department's responsibilities include serving as liaison for workforce training within state government; working with the Virginia Workforce Council to develop uniform policies and procedures for the one-stop centers and evaluate the performance of local workforce investment boards; and monitoring federal legislation and policy in order to maximize the effective use of program funds. The state agencies now administering the various workforce development programs that will be consolidated under the Department are to transfer staff and funding from their respective administrations. The Governor is authorized to transfer appropriations and support other organizational changes as required by the bill. The provisions creating the department and transferring to it both responsibility for administering the Workforce Investment Act programs and for assisting the Virginia Workforce Council become effective December 1, 2004. The balance of the bill's provisions become effective July 1, 2005.
Patron - Hogan

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