Senate Bill No. 527
(By Senator Barnes, By Request)
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[Introduced January 31, 2008; referred to the Committee on
Government Organization; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §16-43-1, §16-43-2,
§16-43-3 and §16-43-4, all relating to public access to
private restrooms in retail establishments.
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 article, designated §16-43-1, §16-43-2,
§16-43-3 and §16-43-4, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 43. RESTROOM ACCESS ACT.
§
16-43-1. Definitions.
(a) As used in this section, these terms will have the
following meanings:
(1) "Customer" means an individual who is lawfully on the
premises of a retail establishment.
(2) "Eligible medical condition" means Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, any other inflammatory bowel disease, irritable
bowel syndrome, or any other medical condition that requires
immediate access to a toilet facility.
(3) "Retail establishment" means a place of business open to
the general public for the sale of good or services. "Retail
establishment" does not include a filling station or service
station, with a structure of 800 square feet or less, that has an
employee toilet facility located within that structure.
§
16-43-2. Access to retail establishment toilet facilities.
(a) A retail establishment that has a toilet facility for its
employees shall allow a customer to use that facility during normal
business hours if the toilet facility is reasonably safe and all of
the following conditions are met:
(1) The customer requesting the use of the employee toilet
facility suffers from an eligible medical condition or utilizes an
ostomy device;
(2) Three or more employees of the retail establishment are
working at the time the customer requests use of the employee
toilet facility;
(3) The retail establishment does not normally make a restroom
available to the public;
(4) The employee toilet facility is not located in an area
where providing access would create an obvious health or safety
risk to the customer or an obvious security risk to the retail establishment;
(5) A public restroom is not immediately accessible to the
customer.
§
16-43-3. Liability.
(a) A retail establishment or an employee of a retail
establishment is not civilly liable for any action or omission in
allowing a customer that has an eligible medical condition to use
an employee toilet facility that is not a public restroom if the
act or omission meets all of the following:
(1) It is not willful or grossly negligent;
(2) It occurs in an area of the retail establishment that is
not accessible to the public;
(3) It results in an injury or death to the customer;
or any individual other than an employee accompanying the customer.
(b) A retail establishment is not required to make any
physical changes to an employee toilet facility under this article.
§
16-43-4.
Penalties for violations.
A retail establishment or an employee of a retail
establishment that violates section two of this article is guilty
of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not
more than one hundred dollars.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide access to private
employee restrooms for persons with certain eligible medical
conditions.
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.