THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 7, 1995 TAG: 9504070563
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
Late Thursday, Norfolk Del. Jerrauld C. Jones set up a grand frame for an obscure bill that had been overlooked in a two-day General Assembly session consumed with partisan politics.
``This is an issue of race, racial discrimination,'' Jones roared.
The bill in question dealt with a 1994 Virginia Supreme Court decision that left owners of businesses with fewer than 15 employees subject to unlimited lawsuits from fired workers.
Earlier this year, the General Assembly approved a compromise that sought to balance the interests of small-business owners and workers fired for discriminatory reasons.
But Gov. George F. Allen sent the bill back to the Assembly with amendments that stripped away the rights of workers to sue for lost wages - even if they were fired because of race, gender, religion or age.
Allen's supporters said the changes were needed because the compromise bill - which at first satisfied the Virginia Chamber of Commerce - would swamp small businesses with frivolous lawsuits.
``This could put out of business many small businesses,'' said Del. Harvey B. Morgan, R-Gloucester.
Jones, who heads the Assembly's Black Caucus, replied that business interests had been misinformed. He said the compromise gave workers ``an ever-so-modest remedy,'' limiting discrimination lawsuit awards to 12 months of wages, minus attorneys fees of up to 25 percent.
The real issue, Jones said, was whether the state would countenance discrimination by businesses with fewer than 15 employees - which are exempt from federal employment laws.
``Let's not throw back and go back to Virginia of old,'' Jones said. ``Let's be Virginia of today and afford a reasonable, balanced and well-understood remedy of discrimination based on race, gender and those things we so abhor.''
The House preserved the workers' rights to sue for discrimination by defeating Allen's amendments on a 50-49 vote that fell largely along party lines, with most Republicans backing the governor.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY VETO SESSION by CNB