SHRM LEGISLATIVE UPDATE JULY 2008
I. WV Minimum wage increased to $7.25 at the beginning of this month. Federal increases to $6.55 on July 24. It will increase again to $7.25 on July 24, 2009. After July 24, 2009, WV minimum wage will match federal.
II. ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (H.R. 3195) It appears our efforts to stop the ADA Restoration Act have worked. A compromise bill, called ADA Amendment has popular support of both parties and may very well make it to President Bush to sign. It has already passed the US House and is now in the Senate. The bill clarifies and retains the current requirement that an impairment must substantially limit a major life activity in order to be considered a disability. However, the term "substantially limits" will be redefined as "materially restricts." Also, the bill preserves the current legal balance, which requires the disabled employee to prove he or she is qualified and able to perform the job in their lawsuit. Unfortunately, mitigating measures are not to be considered when evaluating whether or not someone has a disability, with the exception of ordinary eyeglasses and contact lenses.
III. Immigration. During consideration of the 2009 spending bill for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the House Appropriations Committee decided not to extend the "E-Verify" program for 10 years beyond the program's November 30 expiration date. This move provides hope that NEVA will ultimately prevail over the e-verify bills. In the meantime, employers are being sued and losing when employees are discharged simply because their social security numbers do not match the federal database.
IV. WV Captive Speech Bill – It seems quite unlikely we will ever see this proposal again. The US Supreme Court in Chamber of Commerce of the United States v. Brown found a California law forbidding employers with public contracts from using the profits from those contracts to “assist, promote, or deter union organizing.” The Supreme Court held that this law was preempted by the National Labor Relations Act which had already been interpreted to provide employers with the right to campaign against an organizing effort. The Court also suggested the law violated employers’ rights of free speech. SHRM submitted a legal brief in the case arguing that the NLRA preempted state law and that the California law would have a devastating effect on small employers that were completely dependant upon government contracts. We made these very same arguments to our state legislators when arguing against passage of the WV Captive Speech bill.
V. HR Day at the Capitol in Charleston. Rob Jones from the Huntington Chapter is working to set up another HR Day in Charleston. The date currently under consideration is March 10. Please put that on your calendar and make every effort to attend.
VI. Highlights of special session. Legislature has acted in special session to address problems caused by its recent changes to teacher retirement system. (HB 101, 103 and 210) It has also moved to enact a law mandating formulaic annual pay increases for state employees. State employees with three or more years of service will receive a raise amounting to sixty dollars times the number of years in service. State employees remain eligible for other raises, including cost of living adjustments, but those are all remain discretionary. (HB 214) State has also moved to address the massively large amount of unused sick time public employees have built up over the years as it has permitted sick leave to roll over from year to year. Current employees are free to cash in unused sick leave at 25% of pay but will not be permitted to go below a balance of 50 days. If the leave is cashed in, the employee must enter a contract agreeing to reimburse the State for the amount of sick leave cashed in plus twelve percent interest per annum if the employee elects to separate from employment within 5 years. The only exception is for the retiring employee. The State has also created a separate fund called the State Employee Sick Leave Fund. (HB 216). For those interested in price of gasoline, HB 218 adjusts the amount of state tax to be assessed on gasoline by complicated formula (there is a flat tax then a variable tax which is 5% of the price of gasoline, not including federal and state taxes). The variable portion will not increase in 2009. In 2013 the flat tax will be reduced from 21.5 cents per gallon to 15.5 cents per gallon. Further the Motor Fuel Excise Tax Shortfall Reserve Fund has been created in an attempt to cover the “losses” caused by preventing the tax increase.
