Senate Bill No. 408
(By Senators Love, Hunter, Ball, Ross,
Dawson, Bowman, Anderson, Edgell and Sprouse)
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[Introduced February 4, 2000; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend article three, chapter twenty-one of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
twenty-one, relating to safety and welfare of employees; and
prohibiting noncompetition clauses in employment contracts of
broadcast employees.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article three, chapter twenty-one of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
twenty-one, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. SAFETY AND WELFARE OF EMPLOYEES.
§21-3-21. Noncompetition clauses in contracts of employment of
on-air broadcast employees by broadcast employers prohibited.
(a) For the purposes of this section, "broadcast employer"
means television stations, networks, radio stations or radio
networks and "broadcast employee" means any employee of a broadcast
employer, excluding sales and management employees.
(b) A broadcast employer may not require in any employment
contract that a broadcast employee or prospective broadcast
employee refrain from obtaining employment in a specified
geographic area for a specified period of time after termination of
employment with the broadcast employer.
(c) Any broadcast employer who violates the provisions of this
section is liable in a civil action for damages, attorney's fees
and court costs.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill it to prohibit noncompetition
clauses in employment contracts of broadcast employees.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.