Virginia Senate committee hears labor-related legislation

The Senate Commerce and Labor Committee took up a number of pieces of labor-relation legislation Monday afternoon. Among them:

• SB 1159 from Senator Barbara Favola (D-Arlington) would require employers with a sick leave program to allow an employee to use their sick leave for the care of an immediate family member. The measure applies only to employers that have 25 or more employees and that provide paid sick leave that allows an employee to be absent from work in the event of the employee’s own incapacity, illness, or injury. The committee punted on the bill in order to clarify what it means to be an immediate family member.

• SB 1330 from Jennifer Boysko would have required the Virginia Employment Commission to establish and administer a paid family and medical leave program with benefits beginning Jan. 1, 2024. Funding for the program would be through premiums assessed to employers and employees beginning in 2023. The committee defeated the bill.

• SB 1228 from Boysko, the Virginia Equal Pay Act, was also defeated in the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee. The committee also requested a study of the legislation from the Virginia Employment Commission.

• SB 1358 from Ghazala Hashmi (D-Richmond) was passed by the day, giving Hashmi more time to answer the questions that committee members asked on Monday.

• SB 1202 from Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax) advanced out of the committee.

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This article first appeared on VirginiaScope.com. It is republished here with permission.