Virginia Governor, Glenn Youngkin, concluded the 2023 Virginia General Assembly session by signing 738 bills into law and amending 78 others. Among the bills, important updates were made to employment laws from employee organ donation to ID badges to confidentiality agreements.
While these laws are set to take effect July 1, 2023, Virginia employers should begin preparing now to ensure compliance.
Organ Donor Leave Law
The Organ Donor Leave Law states that covered employers, of 50 or more employees, must offer 60 business days of unpaid, job-protected leave to eligible employees who donate one or more of their organs, and 30 days of unpaid, job-protected leave to employees who serve as bone marrow donors. Employers must continue to provide health benefit plan coverage and restore returning employees to the same or an equivalent position held when the employee went on leave unless a condition unrelated to the organ donation leave requires the employer to deny the individual’s request for restoration.
Eligibility applies to employees that meet the following criteria:
- Have been employed by the employer for at least 12 months
- Have worked at least 1,250 hours for their employer during the previous 12 months
- Ability to provide written documentation from a physician that the employee is an organ or bone marrow donor and that there is a medical necessity for the donation
Click here to read the Organ Donor Leave Law in full.
Prohibited Use of Employee’s Social Security Number
The Virginia Employee ID Law prohibits employers in Virginia to use an employee’s social security number or any related number as their identification number. It is also forbidden for employers to include an employee’s social security number or related numbers on any form of identification card or badge. Virginia employers who break this law could face fines up to $100 per violation.
Click here to read the Virginia Employee ID Law in full.
It’s important to stay up to date on all of the new bills signed into law to ensure compliance. Click here to read about all of the bills Governor Youngkin signed.
