Senate Bill No. 503

(By Senators Bailey and Hunter)

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[Introduced February 8, 2007; 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 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 to 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 such 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.