Summary: Unemployment compensation; employer failure to respond to requests for information; claim determination; notice requirements. Provides that an employer's account shall not be relieved of charges relating to an erroneous payment if the Virginia Employment Commission determines that (i) the employer has failed to respond timely or adequately to a written request for information related to the claim and (ii) the employer has established a pattern of failing to respond timely or adequately to such requests, as described in the bill. The bill requires the Commission to provide written notice for each instance of untimely or inadequate employer response to such requests. The bill provides that upon the Commission's third determination, and for each subsequent determination, within the applicable review period that an employer failed to respond timely or adequately to such a request, the employer shall be considered to have waived all rights in connection with the claim, including participation and appeal rights. The bill requires a deputy examining a claim to provide the reasoning behind the decision, as described in the bill, and a short statement of case-specific facts material to the determination together with any notice of determination upon a claim. The provisions of the bill have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2025. As introduced, this bill was a recommendation of the Commission on Unemployment Compensation. This bill is identical to SB 381.

Summary: Virginia Consumer Protection Act; recycling information on products. Prohibits the sale or offering for sale of any product that indicates on the product's container or packaging that such container or packaging is recyclable unless such container or packaging is made out of a material that is recyclable under a majority of regional and local waste management plans. The bill requires the Virginia Waste Management Board to maintain a list of all materials that are recyclable under a majority of regional and local waste management plans adopted in the Commonwealth and to make such list available on the Department of Environmental Quality's website.

Summary: Consumer protection; transparency in ticketfees; civil penalties. Requires any person selling or reselling a ticket to an event to clearly and conspicuously display the total cost of the ticket from the first time a price is displayed and any time thereafter.The bill allows for a civil penalty of not less than $1,000 nor morethan $5,000 for each violation.

Summary: Minimum wage and overtime wages; civil actions. Provides that an employer that violates minimum wage or overtimeprovisions is liable to the employee for the applicable remedies,damages, or other relief available in an action brought pursuantto the civil action provisions currently available for the nonpaymentof wages. Such provisions currently available provide that an employeemay bring an action in a court of competent jurisdiction to recover payment of the wages, and the court is required to award the wagesowed, an additional equal amount as liquidated damages, plus prejudgmentinterest thereon, and reasonable attorney fees and costs. If thecourt finds that the employer knowingly failed to pay wages to anemployee, the court is required award the employee an amount equalto triple the amount of wages due and reasonable attorney fees andcosts. Such actions are required to be commenced within three yearsafter the cause of action accrued.

Summary: Restroom Access Act. Requires a retail establishment that does not have a public restroom but has an employee toilet facility to allow any customer with an eligible medical condition, as defined in the bill, to use such employee toilet facility during normal business hours if certain conditions are met. A customer who suffers loss as a result of a violation may bring an action to recover damages not to exceed $100.

Summary: Workers' compensation; injuries caused by repetitiveand sustained physical stressors. Provides that, for the purposesof the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act, "occupational disease"includes injuries or diseases from conditions resulting from repetitiveand sustained physical stressors, including repetitive and sustainedmotions, exertions, posture stresses, contact stresses, vibrations,or noises. The bill provides that such injuries or diseases are coveredunder the Act and that such coverage does not require that such repetitiveor sustained physical stress occurred over a particular time period,provided that the time period over which such physical stress occurredcan be reasonably identified.

Summary: Employment discrimination; employee notification of federal and state statute of limitations. Requires an employer that employs 10 or more employees and that receives an employee complaint alleging sexual assault, harassment, or any other form of discrimination for which the employee may seek enforcement by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or the Office of the Attorney General to notify such employee that a charge may be filed with the EEOC or the Office of the Attorney General within 300 days after the alleged unlawful discriminatory practice occurred. The bill also requires an employer to provide this information as part of any new employee training provided at the commencement of employment or anti-discrimination training provided to an employee.

Summary: Consumer Data Protection Act; protections for children. Prohibits, subject to a parental consent requirement, a data controller from processing personal data of a known child (i) for the purposes of targeted advertising, the sale of such personal data, or profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects concerning a consumer; (ii) unless such processing is reasonably necessary to provide the online service, product, or feature; (iii) for any processing purpose other than the processing purpose that the controller disclosed at the time such controller collected such personal data or that is reasonably necessary for and compatible with such disclosed purpose; or (iv) for longer than is reasonably necessary to provide the online service, product, or feature. The bill prohibits, subject to a parental consent requirement, a data controller from collecting precise geolocation data from a known child unless (a) such precise geolocation data is reasonably necessary for the controller to provide an online service, product, or feature and, if such data is necessary to provide such online service, product, or feature, such controller shall only collect such data for the time necessary to provide such online service, product, or feature and (b) the controller provides to the known child a signal indicating that such controller is collecting such precise geolocation data, which signal shall be available to such known child for the entire duration of such collection. The bill prohibits a data controller from engaging in the activities described in the bill unless the controller obtains consent from the child's parent or legal guardian in accordance with the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. This bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2025, and is identical to SB 361.

Summary: Department of Law; compensation for veterans' benefits matters; work group; report. Directs the Department of Law's Division of Consumer Counsel to convene a work group to examine and make recommendations regarding the practice of persons receiving compensation for preparing, presenting, prosecuting, advising, consulting, or assisting any individual regarding any veterans' benefits matter, as defined in the bill.

Summary: Paid family and medical leave insurance program; notice requirements; civil action. Requires the Virginia Employment Commission to establish and administer a paid family and medical leave insurance program with benefits beginning January 1, 2027. Under the program, benefits are paid to covered individuals, as defined in the bill, for family and medical leave. Funding for the program is provided through premiums assessed to employers and employees beginning January 1, 2026. The bill provides that the amount of a benefit is 80 percent of the employee's average weekly wage, not to exceed 80 percent of the state weekly wage, which amount is required to be adjusted annually to reflect changes in the statewide average weekly wage. The bill caps the duration of paid leave at 12 weeks in any application year and provides self-employed individuals the option of participating in the program.

Summary: Consumer protection; automatic renewal or continuous service offers. Requires a supplier making automatic renewal or continuous service offers that automatically renew after more than 30 days and extend the automatic renewal or continuous service offer for a period of more than 12 months to notify the consumer, as defined in the bill, of the option to cancel no less than 30 days and no more than 60 days before the cancellation deadline or the end of the current contract term.

Summary: Retaliatory action against employee prohibited;remedies available. Provides that a violation of certain provisionsregarding retaliatory action against employees may be alleged ina court of competent jurisdiction within one year of the employer'sfinal prohibited retaliatory action. The bill states that in suchcases, double damages may be awarded if such violation was willful.

Summary: Collective bargaining by public employees; public transportation providers. Permits the governing body of a public transportation provider, as defined in the bill, to adopt a resolutionauthorizing such public transportation provider to (i) recognizea labor union or other employee association as a bargaining agentof public officers and employees and (ii) collectively bargain orenter into a collective bargaining contract with such union or associationor its agents with respect to any matter relating to such transportationdistrict or its employees.

Summary: Unemployment insurance; benefit eligibility conditions; lockout exception to labor dispute disqualification. Amends the Virginia Unemployment Compensation Act's labor dispute disqualification to provide that a lockout by an employer shall not constitute a labor dispute and that locked-out employees who are otherwise eligible for benefits shall receive such benefits unless (i) the recognized or certified collective bargaining representative of the locked-out employees refuses to meet under reasonable conditions with the employer to discuss the issues giving rise to the lockout, (ii) there is a final adjudication under the federal National Labor Relations Act that such representative has refused to bargain in good faith with the employer, or (iii) the lockout is the direct result of such representative's violation of an existing collective bargaining agreement. This bill is identical to SB 542.

Summary: Workers' compensation; presumption that certaininjuries arose out of employment. Provides that in any claim for workers' compensation, where the employee suffers an unexplained fall in the course of employment, such employee may satisfy the burden of proof by circumstantial evidence, testimony of others, other evidence, or any combination thereof.

Summary: Prohibiting employer seeking wage or salary history of prospective employees; wage or salary range transparency; cause of action. Prohibits a prospective employer from (i) seeking the wage or salary history of a prospective employee; (ii) relying on the wage or salary history of a prospective employee in determining the wages or salary the prospective employee is to be paid upon hire; (iii) relying on the wage or salary history of a prospective employee in considering the prospective employee for employment; (iv) refusing to interview, hire, employ, or promote a prospective employee or otherwise retaliating against a prospective employee for not providing wage or salary history; and (v) failing or refusing to disclose in each public and internal posting for each job, promotion, transfer, or other employment opportunity the wage, salary, or wage or salary range. The bill establishes a cause of action for an aggrieved prospective employee or employee and provides that an employer that violates such prohibitions is liable to the aggrieved prospective employee or employee for statutory damages between $1,000 and $10,000 or actual damages, whichever is greater, reasonable attorney fees and costs, and any other legal and equitable relief as may be appropriate. This bill is identical to SB 370.

Summary: Collective bargaining by public employees; labor organization representation. Repeals the existing prohibitionon collective bargaining by public employees. The bill creates thePublic Employee Relations Board, which shall determine appropriatebargaining units and provide for certification and decertificationelections for exclusive bargaining representatives of state employeesand local government employees. The bill requires public employersand employee organizations that are exclusive bargaining representativesto meet at reasonable times to negotiate in good faith with respectto wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. Thebill repeals a provision that declares that, in any procedure providingfor the designation, selection, or authorization of a labor organizationto represent employees, the right of an individual employee to voteby secret ballot is a fundamental right that shall be guaranteed from infringement.

Summary: Electric utilities; retail competition; aggregated competitive purchasers. Creates a limited exception to the requirementthat the State Corporation Commission must find that a petition forcertain competitive purchasers to aggregate their demands to becomequalified to purchase retail electric energy is consistent with thepublic interest in order for the Commission to approve such petition. The bill provides that a customer seeking such approval may remunerate the utility for any adverse effects to the incumbent utility or itsremaining utility customers contrary to the public interest as determinedby the Commission. The bill also provides that such customers shallnot be denied permission to procure retail electric energy from acompetitive supplier and that such remuneration fee shall be recalculatedby the Commission on a triennial basis from when a customer commencesa competitive service agreement.

Summary: Delivery network companies; portable benefit accounts. Requires a delivery network company, defined in the bill as a business entity that maintains an online-enabled application or platform used to facilitate delivery services, to contribute an amount equal to four percent of an eligible driver's earnings in the immediately preceding quarter earned through that delivery network company. Additionally, the eligible driver may make voluntary contributions to the portable benefit account. The bill provides that a delivery driver is eligible for the portable benefit account if the driver earned $1,000 delivering in a quarter. Under the bill, funds in a portable benefit account may be used to (i) compensate for lost income due to (a) an illness or accident, (b) the birth or adoption of a child of the driver, (c) a state of emergency, or (d) an earnings loss; (ii) transfer funds to an individual retirement account; or (iii) cover expenses incurred for premiums for health insurance coverage in the individual market. The bill provides that a portable benefit account is exempt from taxation, and contributions to the portable benefit account are not included in the driver's gross income. The bill requires the delivery network company to purchase insurance to cover medical expenses and lost income resulting from injuries suffered while the driver was engaged on a delivery network company's online-enabled application or platform. Additionally, the bill prohibits a delivery network company from discriminating against drivers based on certain classes. The bill provides that delivery drivers are classified as independent contractors, notwithstanding the provision of benefits required by the bill. The bill also provides that jurisdiction in all matters concerning delivery network companies and app-based delivery drivers shall be exclusively vested in the state. Finally the bill provides that its provisions regarding the classification of delivery drivers as independent contractors are not severable.

Summary: Health insurance; coverage for contraceptive drugs and devices. Requires health insurance carriers to provide coverage, under any health insurance contract, policy, or plan that includes coverage for prescription drugs on an outpatient basis, for contraceptive drugs and contraceptive devices, as defined in the bill, including those available over-the-counter. The bill prohibits a health insurance carrier from imposing upon any person receiving contraceptive benefits pursuant to the provisions of the bill any copayment, coinsurance payment, or fee, except in certain circumstances. This bill is identical to SB 238.

Summary: Contractors; workers' compensation requirements.Removes the requirements that the governing body of a localityshall forward a signed certification to the Virginia Workers' CompensationCommission and the Commission shall conduct periodic audits of selectedcontractors to whom such body has issued business licenses, therebyeliminating the need for commissioners of the revenue to send theCommission 61A forms.

Summary: Administrative Process Act; rules of the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission. Exempts certain rules of the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission from the requirements of the Administrative Process Act, provided that the Commission provides an opportunity for public comment on the rules prior to adoption.