ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2313
(By Delegates Caputo and Prunty)
[Passed April 13, 2001; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to amend and reenact section seventeen, article five,
chapter twenty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to time lost as
a volunteer fire department member or an emergency medical
service attendant; adding additional persons who may provide
verification of an employee's response to an emergency call;
modifying the definition of "emergency"; clarifying benefits
as including seniority; and permitting the emergency medical
service attendant to choose whether lost time as an emergency
medical service attendant is subtracted from regular pay or
accumulated annual leave at the option of the employee.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section seventeen, article five, chapter twenty-one of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. WAGE PAYMENT AND COLLECTION.
§21-5-17. Employers prohibited from discharging employees for
time lost as volunteer firemen or emergency medical
service attendant.
No employer may terminate, or use any disciplinary action
against, an employee who is a member of a volunteer fire department
or who is an emergency medical service attendant and who, in the
line of emergency duty as a volunteer fireman or an emergency
medical service attendant, responds to an emergency call prior to
the time he or she is due to report for work and which emergency
results in a loss of time from his or her employment.
Any time lost from employment as provided in this section may
be charged against the employee's regular pay or against the
employee's accumulated leave, if any, at the option of the
employee.
At the request of an employer, any employee losing time as
provided herein shall supply his or her employer with a statement
from the chief of the volunteer fire department or the supervisor
or other appropriate person in charge of the emergency medical
service entity stating that the employee responded to an emergency
call and the time thereof.
As used in this section, "emergency" means going to, attending
to or coming from: (1) A fire call; (2) a hazardous or toxic
materials spill and cleanup; (3) a motor vehicle accident; or (4) any other situation to which his or her fire department or
emergency medical service entity has been or later could be
dispatched. The term "employer" includes any individual,
partnership, association, corporation, business trust or any person
or group of persons acting directly or indirectly in the interest
of an employer in relation to any employee.
Any employer who willfully and knowingly violates the
provisions of this section must reinstate the employee to his or
her former position and shall be required to pay the employee all
lost wages and benefits, including seniority, for the period
between termination and reinstatement. Any action to enforce the
provisions of this section must be commenced within a period of one
year after the date of violation and the action must be commenced
in the circuit court of the county wherein the place of employment
is located.
Email
Webmaster | © 2024 West Virginia Legislature **
