Senate Bill No. 14
(By Senators Bailey and Hunter)
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[Introduced January 9, 2008; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §21-3-22, relating to
employer communications about politics, religion or
labor-organizing activities; prohibiting certain employers
from meeting and communicating with employees regarding the
employer's political, religious or labor-organizing
activities; and providing a civil remedy for violations.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §21-3-22, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 3. SAFETY AND WELFARE OF EMPLOYEES.
§21-3-22. Employer meetings and communications regarding politics,
religion and labor prohibited.
(a) As used in this section:
(1) "Employer" means a person engaged in business who has
employees, including the state and any political subdivision of the
state;
(2) "Employee" means any person engaged in service to an
employer in a business of the employer, and includes research
assistants, research fellows, teaching assistants, teaching
fellows, post-doctoral associates, post-doctoral fellows, interns
and residents at independent nonprofit institutions of higher
education or nonprofit general hospital facilities;
(3) "Labor organization" means any organization that exists
for the purpose, in whole or in part, of collective bargaining or
of dealing with employers concerning grievances, terms or
conditions of employment, or of other mutual aid or protection in
connection with employment; and
(4) "Political matters" includes political party affiliation
or the decision to join or not join any lawful, political, social
or community group or activity or any labor organization.
(b) No employer or an employer's agent, representative or
designee may require its employees to attend an employer-sponsored
meeting or participate in any communications with the employer or
its agents or representatives, the primary purpose of which is to
communicate the employer's opinion about religious or political
matters, except that an employer or its agent, representative or
designee may communicate to employees information about religious or political matters that the employer is required by law to
communicate, but only to the extent of the legal requirement.
(c) No employer or an employer's agent, representative or
designee may discharge, discipline or otherwise penalize or
threaten to discharge, discipline or otherwise penalize any
employee because the employee, or a person acting on behalf of the
employee, makes a good faith report, verbally or in writing, of a
violation or a suspected violation of this section. The provisions
of this subsection shall not be applicable when the employee knows
that the report is false.
(d) Any aggrieved employee may enforce the provisions of this
section by means of a civil action brought no later than ninety
days after the date of the alleged violation in the circuit court
of the county where the violation is alleged to have occurred or
where the employer has its principal office. The court may award
a prevailing employee all appropriate relief, including rehiring or
reinstatement of the employee to the employee's former position,
back pay and reestablishment of any employee benefits to which the
employee would otherwise have been eligible if the violation had
not occurred. The court shall award a prevailing employee treble
damages, together with reasonable attorneys' fees and costs.
(e) Nothing in this section limits an employee's right to
bring a common law cause of action against an employer for wrongful
termination or to diminish or impair the rights of a person under any collective bargaining agreement.
(f) Nothing in this section prohibits:
(1) A religious organization from requiring its employees to
attend an employer-sponsored meeting or to participate in any
communications with the employer or its agents or representatives,
the primary purpose of which is to communicate the employer's
religious beliefs, practices or tenets;
(2) A political organization from requiring its employees to
attend an employer-sponsored meeting or to participate in any
communications with the employer or its agents or representatives,
the primary purpose of which is to communicate the employer's
political tenets or purposes; or
(3) An educational institution from requiring student
instructors to attend lectures on political or religious matters
that are part of the regular course work at the institution.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
prohibit certain
employers from meeting and communicating with employees regarding
the employer's political, religious, or labor organizing
activities. The bill also provides a civil remedy for violations.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.