CHARLESTON, W.Va. — An effort to bar employers from staging mandatory talks in the workplace to discuss political and religious matters under the threat of retaliation against workers who boycott them cleared its first hurdle Wednesday.

But the so-called “captive audience” measure didn’t exit the Joint Standing Committee on the Judiciary without a spirited battle.

After a lengthy debate, Delegate Tim Miley, D-Harrison, coaxed a divided voice vote in sending it out with a recommendation for approval by the full Legislature next year.

Even that didn’t come without a struggle.

Delegate Robert Tabb, D-Jefferson, wanted to amend Miley’s motion so the bill would be sent out minus any recommendation, but House Judiciary Chair Carrie Webster, D-Kanawha, ruled his motion out of order.

Miley said his intent is to bar employers from compelling workers to listen to discussions on political, religious or social issues “that can be very personal in nature.”

“All we’re trying to do is create a bill, a piece of legislation, that would prohibit employers from requiring their employees to attend those meetings where the purpose and intent of that meeting was to convey employers’ thoughts and opinions on those very personal issues,” he said.

“Some people, like it or not, feel that certain things are not other people’s business. I know relatives I have who won’t even tell me who they voted for because that’s their personal business.”

Delegate Mike Oliverio, D-Monongalia, complained the union-backed bill “creates a very different atmosphere” for a business when compared to a labor organization that would have full vent to espouse its political views.

Oliverio also wondered if the bill would bar business owners from mandating attendance at an office Christmas party, since the holiday is religious in nature, but Webster said this isn’t likely to cause a stir, since such gatherings generally are focused on traditional festivities in lieu of precise religious discussions.

However, if conversion is a goal, that would be a different story, House counsel Joe Altizer advised.

“If the purpose is to convert Jewish employees to Christianity, I think that would be a violation,” he said.

Altizer acknowledged, when asked by Oliverio, that the bill would open the door for a whole new scenario of litigation.

Miley injected the religious angle himself in a brief floor speech in support of the bill.

“While many of us sitting here might come from a Christian background, what if you were working for an atheist who wanted to impose their views on you?” he asked.

“What if you work for someone from some other religion who wanted to impose or imply their beliefs on you?”

Delegate John Overington, R-Berkeley, said he was concerned the bill could keep an employer from merely passing on to his work crew the philosophy of a visiting politician that could be detrimental to the business, such as an anti-coal candidate visiting a mine.

“Will this bill make us more business friendly or less friendly?” he asked.

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In other business, the standing committee sent out a bill requiring vision testing every time a motorist’s license comes up for renewal. Existing law merely insists on a vision test at the time of initially applying for an operator’s card.

“It’s a vision screening, not an exam,” counsel Connie Bowling explained. “Basically, they put a chart up on the wall and have you read it.”

Another bill sent out provides that the Department of Health and Human Resources must conduct hearings in all three congressional districts when policy changes are made in federally financed programs.

Action was delayed until December interims on a bill that would bar the shipment of wine directly to West Virginia consumers by out-of-state wineries that produce more than 20,000 gallons annually.

Nor was any decisive action taken on a bill seeking to reform the disposition of health claims based on asbestos exposure.

“This is a very complex issue,” Senate counsel Rita Pauley told the panel.



Mannix Porterfield writes for The Register-Herald in Beckley, W.Va.