Efforts to roll back proworker laws stall in Virginia

Virginia’s 2022 General Assembly session is well underway, and the impact on employers of last year’s election results, when the Republicans took over the executive branch and the House of Delegates, is beginning to take shape. While the legislature has focused mainly on polemically charged debates regarding parents’ rights in deciding school curriculum and masks in schools, other equally contentious business-oriented bills have been the subject of the GOP legislative efforts, although so far without ultimate success.

No minimum wage freeze

For example, the 2021 General Assembly, which Democrats controlled, voted to increase Virginia’s minimum wage in January 2022 to $11 per hour and mandate subsequent raises thereafter until 2024. This year, Republican members of the house introduced a bill to freeze the minimum wage at the current $11 per hour amount.

The bill passed the Republican-controlled house. The Democratically controlled Senate, however, previously rejected a similar bill during the current session. Accordingly, the senate is expected to reject the house bill.

Collective bargaining

Similarly, when the Democrats controlled both of Virginia’s legislative chambers, they passed legislation allowing local governments to engage in collective bargaining with local unions, which previously had been banned for governmental entities.