Bill Text: VA HB67 | 2020 | Regular Session | Prefiled
Bill Title: Strikes by certain government employees; limits to law-enforcement officers.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-30 - Stricken from docket by Labor and Commerce (16-Y 0-N) [HB67 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2020-HB67-Prefiled.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§40.1-55 through 40.1-57.1 and 40.1-58.1 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:
§40.1-55. Public safety employee striking terminates, and becomes temporarily ineligible for, public employment.
A. As used in this article, "public safety employee" means any law-enforcement officer, as defined in §9.1-500.
B. Any public safety employee of the Commonwealth, or of any
county, city, town or other political subdivision thereof, or of any
agency of any one of them, who, in concert with two or more
other such employees, for the purpose of obstructing, impeding or suspending
any activity or operation of his employing agency or any other governmental
agency, strikes or willfully refuses to perform the duties of his employment
shall, by such action, be deemed to have terminated his employment and shall
thereafter be ineligible for employment in any position or capacity during the
next twelve 12
months by the Commonwealth, or any county, city, town or other political
subdivision of the Commonwealth, or by any department or agency of any of them.
§40.1-56. Department head, etc., to notify public safety employee of such termination, etc.
In any such case the head of any department of the state
government, or the mayor of any city or town, or the chairman of the board of
supervisors or other governing body of any county, or the head of any other
such employing agency, in which such a public safety employee whose employment was terminated pursuant to §40.1-55
was employed, shall forthwith notify such public
safety employee of the fact of the termination of his
employment and at the same time serve upon him in person or by registered mail
a declaration of his ineligibility for reemployment as before provided. Such
declaration shall state the fact upon which the asserted ineligibility is
based.
§40.1-57. Appeal by public safety employee from declaration of ineligibility.
In the event that any such public safety employee whose employment was terminated pursuant to §
40.1-55 feels aggrieved by such declaration of
ineligibility he may within ninety 90 days after the date thereof
appeal to the circuit court of the county or the circuit court of the city in
which he was employed by filing a petition therein for a review of the matters
of law and fact involved in or pertinent to the declaration of ineligibility. A
copy of the petition shall be served upon or sent by registered mail to the
official signing the declaration, who may file an answer thereto within ten 10
days after receiving the same. The court or the judge thereof in vacation
shall, as promptly as practicable, hear the appeal de novo and notify the
employee and the signer of the declaration of ineligibility of the time and
place of hearing. The court shall hear such testimony as may be adduced by the
respective parties and render judgment in accordance with the law and the
evidence. Such judgment shall be final.
§40.1-57.1. Appeal by employer for reemployment of terminated public safety employee.
Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, in the
event that the employer of an individual terminated under this article deems it
necessary for the protection of the public welfare that such individual be
reemployed within the twelve 12 months following his
termination, the employer may, within ninety 90 days after the date of the
declaration of ineligibility, appeal to the circuit court of the county or the
circuit court of the city in which the individual was employed by filing a
petition therein setting forth the reasons why the public welfare requires
reemployment. A copy of the petition shall be served upon or sent by registered
mail to the former public safety employee, who may file an answer therein ten 10
days after receiving the same. The court or the judge thereof in vacation shall
notify the employer and former public safety
employee of the time and place of the hearing on the appeal, such hearing to be
de novo and to be held as promptly as possible. The court shall hear such testimony
as may be adduced by the respective parties and render judgment in accordance
with the law and the evidence. Such judgment shall be final.
§40.1-58.1. Application of article to public employers and public safety employees.
As used in this article, the words, "person,"
"persons," "employer," "employees,"
"union," "labor union," "association,"
"organization,"
and "corporation" shall include but not be
limited to public employers, public employees, and any representative of
public employees in this the Commonwealth. The application of this article to public employers, public
employees, and their representatives shall not be construed as modifying
in any way the application of §40.1-55 to government public safety employees as defined in such section.
