Senate Bill No. 675
(By Senators Sprouse and Minear)
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[Introduced February 20, 2006; 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 section, designated §21-5-17a, relating
to
providing that volunteer firefighters are permitted to take
temporary leaves of absence from their employers for the
purpose of attending fire training classes.
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 §21-5-17a, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 5. WAGE PAYMENT AND COLLECTION.
§21-5-17a. Volunteer firefighters permitted to take temporary
leaves of absence from employer for purpose of fire
training.
(a) An employee who is a volunteer firefighter shall be permitted to take temporary leaves of absence from his or her place
of employment, not to exceed an aggregate of ten days per calendar
year, for the purpose of attending fire training classes. 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 taking temporary
leave for fire training under this section shall supply his or her
employer with a statement from the chief of the volunteer fire
department stating the type of fire training and the dates the
employee will be in attendance.
(b) Any employee who is discharged, threatened with discharge,
demoted, suspended, or in any other manner discriminated against in
the terms and conditions of employment by his or her employer
because the employee has taken time off to engage in fire training
as provided in subsection (a), is entitled to reinstatement and
reimbursement for lost wages and work benefits caused by the acts
of the employer.
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
where the place of employment is located.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that volunteer
firefighters are permitted to take temporary leaves of absence from their employers for the purpose of attending fire training classes.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.