Bill Text: VA HB347 | 2022 | Regular Session | Prefiled
Bill Title: Cultural competency training; repeals requirement that DHRM establish training for state employees.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-25 - Stricken from docket by General Laws (22-Y 0-N) [HB347 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2022-HB347-Prefiled.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§2.2-1201, 2.2-1212, and 51.1-1101 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:
§2.2-1201. Duties of Department; Director.
A. The Department shall have the following duties:
1. Make recommendations to the Governor regarding the establishment and maintenance of a classification plan for the service of the Commonwealth, and recommend necessary amendments thereto.
2. Make recommendations to the Governor regarding the establishment and administration of a compensation plan for all employees, and recommend necessary amendments thereto.
3. Design and maintain a personnel information system that shall support the operational needs of the Department and of state agencies, and that shall provide for the management information needs of the Governor, his secretaries, and the General Assembly. The system shall provide at a minimum a roster of all employees in the service of the Commonwealth, in which there shall be set forth as to each employee, the employing agency, the class title, pay, status and such other data as may be deemed desirable to produce significant facts pertaining to personnel administration.
4. Establish and direct a program of employee-management relations designed to improve communications between employees and agencies of the Commonwealth.
5. Establish and administer a system of performance evaluation for all employees in the service of the Commonwealth, based on the quality of service rendered, related where practicable to specific standards of performance. In no event shall workers' compensation leave affect the total number of hours credited during a performance cycle for purposes of calculating incentive increases in salary based on such performance evaluations.
6. Establish and administer a system of recruitment designed to attract high quality employees to the service of the Commonwealth. In administering this system, applicants shall be rated on the basis of relative merit and classified in accordance with their suitability for the various classes of positions in the service of the Commonwealth, and a record thereof shall be maintained in the open register.
7. Design and utilize an application form which shall include, but not be limited to, information on prior volunteer work performed by the applicant.
8. Establish and administer a comprehensive and integrated program of employee training and management development.
9. In
coordination with the Governor or his designee, develop an online training
module addressing diversity and cultural competency that shall be available for
use by all employees and agencies of the Commonwealth. Such training module
shall include (i) information related to race, ethnicity, disabilities, gender,
religion, and other protected classes under state law; (ii) strategies to
create an inclusive and equitable culture; (iii) strategies to ensure equity
and inclusion in state employee recruitment and hiring; and (iv) strategies to
ensure that state employees provide equitable, competent, and welcoming
services to all persons.
10.
Establish and administer a program of evaluation of the effectiveness of
performance of the personnel activities of the agencies of the Commonwealth.
11. 10. Establish
and administer a program to ensure equal employment opportunity to applicants
for state employment and to state employees in all incidents of employment.
12. 11. Establish
and administer regulations relating to disciplinary actions; however, no
disciplinary action shall include the suspension without pay for more than 10
days of any state employee who is under investigation without a hearing
conducted either by a level of supervision above the employee's immediate
supervisor or by his agency head.
13. 12. Adopt
and implement a centralized program to provide awards to employees who propose
procedures or ideas that are adopted and that will result in eliminating or
reducing state expenditures or improving operations, provided such proposals
are placed in effect. The centralized program shall be designed to (i) protect
the identity of the individual making the proposal while it is being evaluated
for implementation by a state agency, (ii) publicize the acceptance of
proposals and financial awards to state employees, and (iii) include a
reevaluation process that individuals making proposals may access if their
proposals are rejected by the evaluating agency. The reevaluation process must
include individuals from the private sector. State employees who make a
suggestion or proposal under this section shall receive initial confirmation of
receipt within 30 days. A determination of the feasibility of the suggestion or
proposal shall occur within 60 days of initial receipt.
14. 13. Develop
state personnel policies and, after approval by the Governor, disseminate and
interpret state personnel policies and procedures to all agencies. Such
personnel policies shall permit an employee, with the written approval of his
agency head, to substitute (i) up to 33 percent of his accrued paid sick leave,
(ii) up to 100 percent of any other paid leave, or (iii) any combination of
accrued paid sick leave and any other paid leave for leave taken pursuant to
the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. §2601 et seq.). On and
after December 1, 1999, such personnel policy shall include an acceptable use
policy for the Internet. At a minimum, the Department's acceptable use policy
shall contain provisions that (i) prohibit use by state employees of the Commonwealth's
computer equipment and communications services for sending, receiving, viewing,
or downloading illegal material via the Internet and (ii) establish strict
disciplinary measures for violation of the acceptable use policy. An agency
head may supplement the Department's acceptable use policy with such other
terms, conditions, and requirements as he deems appropriate. The Director of
the Department shall have the final authority to establish and interpret
personnel policies and procedures and shall have the authority to ensure full
compliance with such policies. However, unless specifically authorized by law,
the Director of the Department shall have no authority with respect to the
state grievance procedures.
14a. 14. Develop
state personnel policies, with the approval of the Governor, that permit any
full-time state employee who is also a member of the organized reserve forces
of any of the armed services of the United States or of the Virginia National
Guard to carry forward from year to year the total of his accrued annual leave
time without regard to the regulation or policy of his agency regarding the
maximum number of hours allowed to be carried forward at the end of a calendar
year. Any amount over the usual amount allowed to be carried forward shall be
reserved for use only as leave taken pursuant to active military service as
provided by §2.2-2903.1. Such leave and its use shall be in addition to leave
provided under §44-93. Any leave carried forward for the purposes described
remaining upon termination of employment with the Commonwealth or any
department, institution or agency thereof that has not been used in accordance
with §2.2-2903.1 shall not be paid or credited in any way to the employee.
14b. 15. Develop
state personnel policies that provide break time for nursing mothers to express
breast milk. Such policies shall require an agency to provide (i) a reasonable
break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child after
the child's birth each time such employee has need to express the breast milk
and (ii) a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free
from intrusion from coworkers and the public and that may be used by an
employee to express breast milk. Such break time shall, if possible, run
concurrently with any break time already provided to the employee. An agency
shall not be required to compensate an employee receiving reasonable break time
for any work time spent for such purpose. For purposes of this subdivision,
"reasonable," with regard to break time provided for nursing mothers
to express breast milk, means a break time that complies with the guidance for
employers in assessing the frequency and timing of breaks to express breast
milk set forth in the U.S. Department of Labor's Request for Information RIN
1235-ZA00, 75 Federal Register 80073 (December 21, 2010).
15. 16. Ascertain
and publish on an annual basis, by agency, the number of employees in the
service of the Commonwealth, including permanent full-time and part-time
employees, those employed on a temporary or contractual basis, and
constitutional officers and their employees whose salaries are funded by the
Commonwealth. The publication shall contain the net gain or loss to the agency
in personnel from the previous fiscal year and the net gains and losses in
personnel for each agency for a three-year period.
16. 17. Submit
a report to the members of the General Assembly on or before September 30 of
each year showing (i) the total number of full-time and part-time employees,
(ii) contract temporary employees, (iii) hourly temporary employees, and (iv)
the number of employees who voluntarily and involuntarily terminated their
employment with each department, agency or institution in the previous fiscal
year.
17. 18. Administer
the workers' compensation insurance plan for state employees in accordance with
§2.2-2821.
18. 19. Work
jointly with the Department of General Services and the Virginia Information
Technologies Agency to develop expedited processes for the procurement of staff
augmentation to supplement salaried and wage employees of state agencies. Such
processes shall be consistent with the Virginia Public Procurement Act (§
2.2-4300 et seq.). The Department may perform contract administration duties and
responsibilities for any resulting statewide augmentation contracts.
19. 20. In
coordination with the Secretary of Health and Human Resources or his designee,
develop an online training module addressing safety and disaster awareness,
which shall be incorporated into existing mandatory training.
B. The Director may convene such ad hoc working groups as the Director deems appropriate to address issues regarding the state workforce.
§2.2-1212. Required online safety and disaster awareness training.
All state employees shall annually complete an online safety
and disaster awareness training module that includes information on public
health safety provided by the Department pursuant to subdivision A 19
20 of §2.2-1201. Each state agency shall maintain records
showing that each employee has completed the training required by this section
and the date on which such training was completed.
§51.1-1101. Sickness and disability program; disability insurance policies.
A. The Board shall develop, implement, and administer a sick
leave, short-term disability, and long-term disability benefits program in
accordance with the provisions of this chapter. The Board is authorized to
delegate or assign to any person any of the duties required to be performed by the
Board pursuant to this chapter. The Board is authorized to purchase long-term
disability insurance policies for participating employees. The policies shall
be purchased from and carried with a disability insurance company which is
authorized to do business in the Commonwealth. Each policy shall contain a
provision stipulating the maximum expense and risk charges that are determined
by the Board to be on a basis consistent with the general level of charges made
by disability insurance companies under policies of long-term disability
insurance issued to large employers. The Board may require that the policies
have reinsurance with a disability insurance company incorporated or organized
under the laws of and authorized to do business in the Commonwealth. This
section is not intended to abrogate the final authority of the Director of the
Department of Human Resource Management under
subdivision subdivisions
A 14 and 15
of §2.2-1201 to establish and interpret personnel policy and procedures, such
as the sick leave policy.
B. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection A, the Board may self-insure long-term disability benefits in accordance with the standards set forth in §51.1-124.30.
2. That §2.2-1211 of the Code of Virginia is repealed.
