H. B. 2895
(By Delegates Eldridge, Wells, Browning,
Amores, Pethtel and Ennis)
[Introduced
February 7, 2007
; referred to the
Committee on Banking and Insurance then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §33-49-1, §33-49-2,
§33-49-3, §33-49-4, §33-49-5, §33-49-6, §33-49-7, §33-49-8,
§33-49-9, §33-49-10, §33-49-11, §33-49-12 and §33-49-13, all
relating to the recognition and regulation of professional
employer organizations by the West Virginia Insurance
Commissioner.
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 §33-49-1, §33-49-2,
§33-49-3, §33-49-4, §33-49-5, §33-49-6, §33-49-7, §33-49-8,
§33-49-9, §33-49-10, §33-49-11, §33-49-12 and §33-49-13, all to
read as follows:
ARTICLE 49. WEST VIRGINIA PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYER ORGANIZATION
RECOGNITION AND REGISTRATION ACT.
§33-49-1. Purpose and intent.
The Legislature hereby finds:
(a) That professional employer organizations provide a
valuable service to commerce and the citizens of this state by
increasing the opportunities of employers to develop cost-effective
methods of satisfying their personnel requirements and providing
employees with access to certain employment benefits which might
otherwise not be available to them;
(b) That professional employer organizations (hereinafter
"PEO")operating in this state should be properly recognized and
regulated by the Commissioner of Insurance of the state of West
Virginia, as provided in this article; and
(c) That any allocation of the employer duties and
responsibilities pursuant to this article will preserve all rights
to which covered employees would be entitled under a traditional
employment relationship.
§33-49-2. Definitions.
As used in this article:
(a) "Administrative fee" means the fee charged to a client by
a professional employer organization for professional employer
services. However, the administrative fee shall not be deemed to
include any amount of a fee by the professional employer
organization that is for wages and salaries, benefits, workers'
compensation, payroll taxes, withholding, or other assessments paid by the professional employer organization to or on behalf of
covered employees under the professional employer agreement.
(b) "Client" means any person who enters into a professional
employer agreement with a PEO.
(c) "Coemployer" means either a PEO or a client.
(d) "Coemployment relationship" means a relationship which is
intended to be an ongoing relationship rather than a temporary or
project specific one, wherein the rights, duties, and obligations
of an employer which arise out of an employment relationship have
been allocated between coemployers pursuant to a professional
employer agreement and this article. In such a coemployment
relationship:
(1) The PEO is entitled to enforce only such employer rights,
and is subject to only those obligations specifically allocated to
the PEO by the professional employer agreement or this article;
(2) The client is entitled to enforce those rights, and
obligated to provide and perform those employer obligations
allocated to such client by the professional employer agreement and
this article; and
(3) The client is entitled to enforce any right and obligated
to perform any obligation of an employer not specifically allocated
to the PEO by the professional employer agreement or this article.
(e) "Covered employee" means an individual having a
coemployment relationship with a PEO and a client who meets all of the following criteria: (i) The individual has received written
notice of coemployment with the PEO; and (ii) the individual's
coemployment relationship is pursuant to a professional employer
agreement subject to this article. Individuals who are officers,
directors, shareholders, partners, and managers of the client will
be covered employees to the extent the PEO and the client have
expressly agreed in the professional employer agreement that such
individuals would be covered employees and provided such
individuals meet the criteria of this paragraph and act as
operational managers or perform day-to-day operational services for
the client.
(f) "Department" means the office of the Insurance
Commissioner of the State of West Virginia.
(g) "PEO group" means two or more PEO's that are majority
owned or commonly controlled by the same entity, parent, or
controlling person(s).
(h) "Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation,
limited liability company, association, or any other form of
legally recognized entity.
(i) "Professional employer agreement" means a written contract
by and between a client and a PEO that provides:
(1) For the coemployment of covered employees;
(2) For the allocation of employer rights and obligations
between the client and the PEO with respect to the covered employees; and
(3) That the PEO and the client assume the responsibilities
required by this article.
(j) "Professional employer organization" or "PEO" means any
person engaged in the business of providing professional employer
services. A person engaged in the business of providing
professional employer services shall be subject to registration and
regulation under this article regardless of its use of the term or
conducting business as a "professional employer organization,"
"PEO," "staff leasing company," "registered staff leasing company,"
"employee leasing company," "administrative employer," or any other
name.
The following shall not be deemed to be professional employer
organizations or the providing of professional employment services
for purposes of this article:
(1) Arrangements wherein a person, whose principal business
activity is not entering into professional employer arrangements
and which does not hold itself out as a PEO, shares employees with
a commonly owned company within the meaning of section 414(b) and
(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended;
(2) Independent contractor arrangements by which a person
assumes responsibility for the product produced or service
performed by such person or his or her agents and retains and
exercises primary direction and control over the work performed by the individuals whose services are supplied under such
arrangements, or
(3) Providing temporary help services.
(k) "Professional employer services" shall mean the service of
entering into coemployment relationships under this article in
which all or a majority of the employees providing services to a
client or to a division or work unit of client are covered
employees.
(l) "Registrant" means a PEO registered under this article.
(m) "Insurance commissioner" means the agency of or the
individual currently holding office and/ or acting in the capacity
of the Insurance Commissioner of West Virginia.
(n) "Temporary help services" means services consisting of a
person:
(1) Recruiting and hiring its own employees;
(2) Finding other organizations that need the services of
those employees;
(3) Assigning those employees to perform work at or services
for the other organizations to support or supplement the other
organizations' workforces, or to provide assistance in special work
situations such as, but not limited to, employee absences, skill
shortages, seasonal workloads, or to perform special assignments or
projects; and
(4) Customarily attempting to reassign the employees to other organizations when they finish each assignment.
§33-49-3. Rights, duties and obligations unaffected by this
article.
(a) Collective bargaining agreements. -- Nothing contained in
this article or in any professional employer agreement shall
affect, modify or amend any collective bargaining agreement, or the
rights or obligations of any client, PEO, or covered employee under
the federal national labor relations article, the federal railway
labor article or the West Virginia Labor-Management Relations
article for the Private Sector (section one, article one-a, chapter
twenty-one, et seq., of the Code of West Virginia).
(b) Employment arrangements. -- Nothing in this article or in
any professional employer agreement shall:
(1) Diminish, abolish or remove rights of covered employees to
a client or obligations of such client to a covered employee
existing prior to the effective date of the professional employer
agreement.
(2) Affect, modify, or amend any contractual relationship or
restrictive covenant between a covered employee and any client in
effect at the time a professional employer agreement becomes
effective. Nor shall it prohibit or amend or any contractual
relationship or restrictive covenant that is entered into
subsequently between a client and a covered employee. A PEO shall
have no responsibility or liability in connection with, or arising out of, any such existing or new contractual relationship or
restrictive covenant unless the PEO has specifically agreed
otherwise in writing.
(3) Create any new or additional enforceable right of a
covered employee against a PEO that is not specifically provided by
the professional employer agreement or this article.
(c) Licensing. -- Nothing contained in this article or any
professional employer agreement shall affect, modify or amend any
state, local, or federal licensing, registration, or certification
requirement applicable to any client or covered employee.
(1) A covered employee who must be licensed, registered, or
certified according to law or regulation is deemed solely an
employee of the client for purposes of any such license,
registration, or certification requirement.
(2) A PEO shall not be deemed to engage in any occupation,
trade, profession, or other activity that is subject to licensing,
registration, or certification requirements, or is otherwise
regulated by a governmental entity solely by entering into and
maintaining a coemployment relationship with a covered employee who
is subject to such requirements or regulation.
(3) A client shall have the sole right of direction and
control of the professional or licensed activities of covered
employees and of client's business. Such covered employees and
clients shall remain subject to regulation by the regulatory or governmental entity responsible for licensing, registration, or
certification of such covered employees or clients.
(d) Tax credits and other incentives. -- For purposes of
determination of tax credits and other economic incentives provided
by this state or other government entity and based on employment,
covered employees shall be deemed employees solely of the client.
A client shall be entitled to the benefit of any tax credit,
economic incentive, or other benefit arising as the result of the
employment of covered employees of such client. If the grant or
amount of any such incentives is based on number of employees, then
each client shall be treated as employing only those covered
employees coemployed by the client. Covered employees working for
other clients of the PEO shall not be counted. Each PEO will
provide, upon request by a client or an agency or department of
this state, employment information reasonably required by any
agency or department of this state responsible for administration
of any such tax credit or economic incentive and necessary to
support any request, claim, application, or other action by a
client seeking any such tax credit or economic incentive.
(e) Disadvantaged business. -- With respect to a bid,
contract, purchase order, or agreement entered into with the state
or a political subdivision of the state, a client company's status
or certification as a small, minority-owned, disadvantaged, or
woman-owned business enterprise or as a historically underutilized business is not affected because the client company has entered
into an agreement with a PEO or uses the services of a PEO.
§33-49-4. Registration requirements.
(a) Registration required. -- Except as otherwise provided in
this article, no person shall provide, advertise, or otherwise hold
itself out as providing professional employer services in this
state, unless such person is registered under this article.
(b) Registration information. -- Each applicant for
registration under this article, shall provide the Insurance
Commissioner with the following information:
(1) The name or names under which the PEO conducts business;
(2) The address of the principal place of business of the PEO
and the address of each office it maintains in this state;
(3) The PEO's taxpayer or employer identification number;
(4) A list by jurisdiction of each name under which the PEO
has operated in the preceding five years, including any alternative
names, names of predecessors and, if known, successor business
entities;
(5) A statement of ownership, which shall include the name and
evidence of the business experience of any person that,
individually or acting in concert with one or more other persons,
owns or controls, directly or indirectly, twenty-five percent or
more of the equity interests of the PEO;
(6) A statement of management, which shall include the name and evidence of the business experience of any person who serves as
president, chief executive officer, or otherwise has the authority
to act as senior executive officer of the PEO; and
(7) A financial statement setting forth the financial
condition of the PEO or PEO Group. At the time of application for
a new license, the applicant shall submit the most recent audit of
the applicant, which may not be older than thirteen months.
Thereafter, a PEO or PEO group shall file on an annual basis,
within one hundred eighty days after the end of the PEO or PEO
group's fiscal year, a succeeding audit. An applicant may apply
for an extension with the Insurance Commissioner but any such
request must be accompanied by a letter from the Auditors stating
the reasons for the delay and the anticipated audit completion
date.
The financial statement shall be prepared in accordance with
generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), and audited by an
independent certified public accountant licensed to practice in the
jurisdiction in which such accountant is located, and shall be
without qualification as to the going concern status of the PEO.
A PEO Group may submit combined or consolidated audited financial
statements to meet the requirements of this section. A PEO that
has not had sufficient operating history to have audited financials
based upon at least twelve months of operating history must meet
the financial capacity requirements below and present financial statements reviewed by a certified public accountant.
(c) Initial registration. --
(1) Each PEO operating within this state as of the effective
date of this article shall complete its initial registration not
later than one hundred eighty days after the effective date of this
article. Such initial registration shall be valid until the end of
the PEO's first fiscal year end that is more than one year after
the effective date of this article.
(2) Each PEO not operating within this state as of the
effective date of this article shall complete its initial
registration prior to commencement of operations within this state.
(d) Renewal. -- Within one hundred eighty days after the end
of a registrant's fiscal year, such registrant shall renew its
registration by notifying the Insurance Commissioner of any changes
in the information provided in such registrant's most recent
registration or renewal.
(e) PEO group registration. -- PEOs in a PEO Group may satisfy
the reporting and financial requirements of this registration law
on a combined or consolidated basis provided that each member of
the PEO Group guarantees the obligations under this article of each
other member of the PEO Group. In the case of a PEO Group that
submits a combined or consolidated audited financial statement
including entities that are not PEOs or that are not in the PEO
Group, the controlling entity of the PEO Group under the consolidated or combined statement must guarantee the obligations
of the PEOs in the PEO Group.
(f) Limited registration. --
(1) A PEO is eligible for a limited registration under this
article if such PEO:
(A) Submits a properly executed request for limited
registration on a form provided by the Insurance Commissioner;
(B) Is domiciled outside this state and is licensed or
registered as a professional employer organization in another
state;
(C) Does not maintain an office in this state or directly
solicit clients located or domiciled within this state; and
(D) Does not have more than fifty covered employees employed
or domiciled in this state on any given day.
(2) A limited registration is valid for one year, and may be
renewed.
(3) A PEO seeking limited registration under this section
shall provide the Insurance Commissioner with information and
documentation necessary to show that the PEO qualifies for a
limited registration.
(4) Section six of this article shall not apply to applicants
for limited registration.
(g) Alternative registration. -- The Insurance Commissioner
may by rule and regulation provide for the acceptance of an affidavit or certification of a bonded, independent and qualified
assurance organization that has been approved by the Insurance
Commissioner certifying qualifications of a PEO in lieu of the
requirements of sections four and six of this article.
(h) List. -- The Insurance Commissioner shall maintain a list
of professional employer organizations registered under this
article.
(i) Forms. -- The Insurance Commissioner may prescribe forms
necessary to promote the efficient administration of this section.
(j) Record confidentiality. -- All records, reports and other
information obtained from a PEO under this article, except to the
extent necessary for the proper administration of this article by
the Insurance Commissioner, shall be confidential and shall not be
published or open to public inspection other than to public
employees in the performance of their public duties.
§33-49-5. Fees.
(a) Initial registration. -- Upon filing an initial
registration statement under this article, a PEO shall pay an
initial registration fee not to exceed five hundred dollars.
(b) Renewal. -- Upon each annual renewal of a registration
statement filed under this article, a PEO shall pay a renewal fee
not to exceed two hundred fifty dollars.
(c) Group registration. -- The Insurance Commissioner shall
determine by rule any fee to be charged for a group registration.
(d) Limited registration. -- Each PEO seeking limited
registration under the terms of this subsection shall pay a fee in
the amount not to exceed two hundred fifty dollars upon initial
application for limited registration and upon each annual renewal
of such limited registration.
(e) Alternative registration. -- A PEO seeking alternative
registration shall pay an initial and annual fee not to exceed two
hundred fifty dollars.
(f) No fee charged pursuant to this article shall exceed the
amount reasonably necessary for the administration of this article.
§33-49-6. Financial capability; working capital and bonding.
(a) Except as provided by section four (f) and (g) above, each
PEO shall maintain a minimum of one hundred thousand dollars in
working capital (current assets minus current liabilities) as
defined by generally accepted accounting principles at registration
or renewal as reflected in the financial statements submitted to
the Insurance Commissioner with the initial registration and each
annual renewal.
(b) A small, start-up PEO shall be required to have a minimum
of fifty thousand dollars in working capital as defined by
generally accepted accounting principles. A small, start-up PEO is
defined as one in operation less than three years and having total
payroll of less than five million dollars.
(c) A PEO or PEO Group with less than the required working capital shall have one hundred-eighty days to eliminate the
deficiency. During that one hundred-eighty days the PEO or PEO
Group shall submit quarterly financial statements to the Insurance
Commissioner accompanied by an attestation of the chief executive
officer that all wages, taxes, workers' compensation premiums, and
employee benefits have been paid by the PEO or members of the PEO
Group.
§33-49-7. General requirements and provisions.
(a)Allocation of rights, duties, and obligations. -- Except
as specifically provided in this article or in the professional
employer agreement, in each coemployment relationship:
(1) The client shall be entitled to exercise all rights, and
shall be obligated to perform all duties and responsibilities,
otherwise applicable to an employer in an employment relationship;
and
(2) The PEO shall be entitled to exercise only those rights,
and obligated to perform only those duties and responsibilities,
specifically required by this article or set forth in the
professional employer agreement. The rights, duties, and
obligations of the PEO as coemployer with respect to any covered
employee shall be limited to those arising pursuant to the
professional employer agreement and this article during the term of
coemployment by the PEO of such covered employee.
(3) Unless otherwise expressly agreed by the PEO and the client in a professional employer agreement, the client retains the
exclusive right to direct and control the covered employees as is
necessary to conduct the client's business, to discharge any of
client's fiduciary responsibilities, or to comply with any
licensure requirements applicable to client or to the covered
employees.
(b) Contractual relationship. -- Except as specifically
provided in this article, the coemployment relationship between the
client and the PEO, and between each coemployer and each covered
employee, shall be governed by the professional employer agreement.
Each professional employer agreement shall include the following:
(1) The allocation of rights, duties and obligations as
described in paragraph (A) above;
(2) That the PEO shall have responsibility to pay wages to
covered employees; to withhold, collect, report and remit
payroll-related and unemployment taxes; and, to the extent the PEO
has assumed responsibility in the professional employer agreement,
to make payments for employee benefits for covered employees. As
used in this section, the term "wages" does not include any
obligation between a client and a covered employee for payments
beyond or in addition to the covered employee's salary, draw or
regular rate of pay, such as bonuses, commissions, severance pay,
deferred compensation, profit sharing or vacation, sick or other
paid time off pay, unless the PEO has expressly agreed to assume liability for such payments in the professional employer agreement
and has received a wage assignment permitting the PEO to make
deductions from covered employees wages for items not listed as
legal deductions in the wage payment collection article;
(3) That the PEO shall have a right to hire, discipline, and
terminate a covered employee, as may be necessary to fulfill the
PEO's responsibilities under this article and the professional
employer agreement. The client shall have a right to hire,
discipline, and terminate a covered employee.
(4) The responsibility to obtain workers' compensation
coverage for covered employees, from a carrier licensed to do
business in this state and otherwise in compliance with all
applicable requirements, shall be specifically allocated to either
the client or the PEO in the professional employer agreement.
(c) Notice to covered employees. -- With respect to each
professional employer agreement entered into by a PEO, such PEO
shall provide written notice to each covered employee affected by
such agreement of the general nature of the coemployment
relationship between and among the PEO, the client, and such
covered employee.
(d) Specific responsibilities. -- Except to the extent
otherwise expressly provided by the applicable professional
employer agreement:
(1) A client shall be solely responsible for the quality, adequacy or safety of the goods or services produced or sold in
client's business.
(2) A client shall be solely responsible for directing,
supervising, training and controlling the work of the covered
employees with respect to the business activities of the client and
solely responsible for the acts, errors or omissions of the covered
employees with regard to such activities.
(3) A client shall not be liable for the acts, errors or
omissions of a PEO, or of any covered employee of the client and a
PEO when such covered employee is acting under the express
direction and control of the PEO.
(4) A PEO shall not be liable for the acts, errors, or
omissions of a client or of any covered employee of the client when
such covered employee is acting under the express direction and
control of the client.
Nothing in this paragraph shall serve to limit any contractual
liability or obligation specifically provided in the written
professional employer agreement. A covered employee is not, solely
as the result of being a covered employee of a PEO, an employee of
the PEO for purposes of general liability insurance, fidelity
bonds, surety bonds, employer's liability which is not covered by
workers' compensation, or liquor liability insurance carried by the
PEO unless the covered employees are included by specific reference
in the professional employer agreement and applicable prearranged employment contract, insurance contract or bond.
(e) Professional employer services not insurance. -- A PEO
under this article is not engaged in the sale of insurance or in
acting as a third party administrator (TPA) by offering, marketing,
selling, administering or providing professional employer services
which include services and employee benefit plans for covered
employees.
(f) Taxation. -- Covered employees whose services are subject
to sales tax shall be deemed the employees of the client for
purposes of collecting and levying sales tax on the services
performed by the covered employee. Nothing contained in this
article shall relieve a client of any sales tax liability with
respect to its goods or services. Any tax upon professional
employer services or any business license or other fee which is
based upon "gross receipts" shall be limited to the administrative
fee of the PEO. Any tax assessed on a per capita or per employee
basis shall be assessed against the client for covered employees
and against the professional employer organization for its
employees who are not covered employees coemployed with a client.
In the case of tax imposed or calculated upon the basis of total
payroll, the professional employer organization shall be eligible
to apply any small business allowance or exemption available to the
client for the covered employees for purpose of computing the tax.
§33-49-8. Benefit plans.
(a) A client and a PEO shall each be deemed an employer for
purposes of sponsoring retirement and welfare benefit plans for its
covered employees.
(b) A fully-insured welfare benefit plan offered to the
covered employees of a single PEO shall be considered a single
employer welfare benefit plan and shall not be considered a
multiple employer welfare arrangement, or "MEWA", as defined in
section 514 of the Employee Retirement Income Security article of
1974 (
29 U.S.C. §1144), as amended, and shall be exempt from the
licensing requirements contained at section one, article three,
chapter thirty-three of the West Virginia Code.
(c) For purposes of article sixteen-d, chapter thirty-three of
the code, a PEO shall be considered the employer of all of its
covered employees and all covered employees of one or more clients
participating in a health benefit plan sponsored by a single PEO
shall be considered employees of the PEO.
(d) If a PEO offers to its covered employees any health
benefit plan which is not fully-insured by an authorized insurer,
the plan shall:
(1) Utilize a third-party administrator licensed to do
business in this state;
(2) Hold all plan assets, including participant contributions,
in a trust account;
(3) Provide sound reserves for such plan as determined using generally accepted actuarial standards; and
(4) Provide written notice to each covered employee
participating in the benefit plan that the plan is self-insured or
is not fully-insured.
§33-49-9. Workers' compensation.
(a) Coverage. -- The responsibility to obtain workers'
compensation coverage for covered employees in compliance with all
applicable law shall be specifically allocated in the professional
employer agreement to either the client or the PEO. If the
responsibility is allocated to the PEO under any agreement, that
agreement shall require that the PEO maintain and provide workers'
compensation coverage for the covered employees from a carrier
authorized to do business in this state and to provide to client,
at the termination of the agreement if requested by the client,
records regarding the loss experience related to workers'
compensation insurance provided to covered employees pursuant to
that agreement. If such responsibility is allocated to the PEO,
coverage to the PEO shall be offered either under:
(1) "Master policy basis" which means an arrangement under
which a single policy issued to the PEO provides coverage for more
than one client, and provides coverage to the PEO with respect to
its direct hire employees. Two or more clients that are insured
under the same policy solely because they are under common
ownership are considered a single client for purposes of this definition; or
(2) "Multiple coordinated policy basis" which means an
arrangement under which a separate policy is issued to or on behalf
of each client employer or group of affiliated client employers
but certain payment obligations and policy communications are
coordinated through the PEO. Such policy shall clearly state that
coverage provided by a standard Workers Compensation insurance
policy issued on a multiple coordinated policy basis must contain
the name of the professional employer organization as the first
named insured with reference as labor contractor for the client.
For example, the named insured should read, "ABC professional
employer organization, labor contractor for (L/C/F) XYZ client."
(b) Exclusive remedy. -- Both client and the PEO shall be
considered the employer for the purpose of coverage under the
workers' compensation article. The protection of the exclusive
remedy provision of the workers' compensation article shall apply
to the PEO, the client, and to all covered employees and other
employees of the client irrespective of which coemployer obtains
such workers' compensation coverage.
§33-49-10. Unemployment compensation insurance.
(a) For purposes of section one, article one-a, chapter twenty
one-a, et seq., of the code covered employees of a registered PEO
are considered the employees of the PEO, which shall be responsible
for the payment of contributions, penalties, and interest on wages paid by the PEO to its covered employees during the term of the
applicable professional employer agreement.
(b) The PEO shall report and pay all required contributions to
the unemployment compensation fund using the state employer account
number and the contribution rate of the PEO.
(c) On the termination of a contract between a PEO and a
client or the failure by a PEO to submit reports or make tax
payments as required by this chapter, the client shall be treated
as a new employer without a previous experience record unless that
client is otherwise eligible for an experience rating.
§33-49-11. Enforcement.
(a) Prohibited acts: PEO Services. -- A person:
(1) May not offer or provide professional employer services or
use the names PEO, professional employer organization, staff
leasing, employee leasing, administrative employer or other title
representing professional employer services without first becoming
registered under this article.
(2) May not knowingly provide false or fraudulent information
to the Insurance Commissioner in conjunction with any registration,
renewal, or in any report required under this article.
(b) Disciplinary action. -- Disciplinary action may be taken
by the Insurance Commissioner of West Virginia for violation of
(a)(1) or (a)(2) above or for:
(1) The conviction of a professional employer organization or a controlling person of a PEO of a crime that relates to the
operation of a PEO relates to fraud or deceit or the ability of the
licensee or a controlling person of a licensee to operate a PEO;
(2) Knowingly making a material misrepresentation to the
Insurance Commissioner of West Virginia, or other governmental
agency; or
(3) A willful violation of this article or any order or
regulation issued by the department under this article.
(c) Disciplinary authorities. -- Upon finding, after notice
and opportunity for hearing, that a PEO or a controlling person of
a PEO has violated one or more provisions of this section, the
Insurance Commissioner of West Virginia may:
(1) Deny an application for a license;
(2) Revoke, restrict, or refuse to renew a license;
(3) Impose an administrative penalty in an amount not to
exceed one thousand dollars for each material violation;
(4) Place the licensee on probation for the period and subject
to conditions that the department specifies; or
(5) Issue a cease and desist.
§33-49-12. Severability.
The provisions of this article are severable. If any phrase,
clause, sentence or provision of this article or application
thereof to any person or circumstance is deemed unenforceable, the
remaining provisions of this article shall be enforceable.
§33-49-13. Effective date.
The provisions of this article shall become effective the
first day of July, two thousand seven.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide for the
recognition and regulation of professional employer organizations
by the West Virginia Insurance Commissioner.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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