Retailers Urge Repeal of Virginia Sundays-Off Law
RICHMOND, Va. - Retailers operating in the state of Virginia have urged Gov. Mark R. Warner to call an emergency session of the state legislature to rework a law that grants workers Sundays off, according to a report in the Washington Post.
The General Assembly resurrected the law from decades of obscurity during the 2004 session by accidentally removing exemptions for most of the state's businesses while trying to eliminate four out-of-date provisions of the blue laws, which forbid businesses to open on Sundays. The law requires employers to grant nonmanagerial workers a weekend day off, or pay fines and triple the worker's pay rate.
On Tuesday a group of business leaders, including CVS, Eckerd, HCA, International Paper, Kmart, Rite Aid, and Sheetz, said a judge's ruling last week that temporarily prohibits enforcement of the legislation does not provide enough legal finality. "It only serves to hold the confusion and damage to Virginia's businesses in abeyance for a relatively short period of time," the group said in a statement.
Warner is on vacation and has been reluctant to call the legislator back for an emergency session, citing administrative costs.
The General Assembly resurrected the law from decades of obscurity during the 2004 session by accidentally removing exemptions for most of the state's businesses while trying to eliminate four out-of-date provisions of the blue laws, which forbid businesses to open on Sundays. The law requires employers to grant nonmanagerial workers a weekend day off, or pay fines and triple the worker's pay rate.
On Tuesday a group of business leaders, including CVS, Eckerd, HCA, International Paper, Kmart, Rite Aid, and Sheetz, said a judge's ruling last week that temporarily prohibits enforcement of the legislation does not provide enough legal finality. "It only serves to hold the confusion and damage to Virginia's businesses in abeyance for a relatively short period of time," the group said in a statement.
Warner is on vacation and has been reluctant to call the legislator back for an emergency session, citing administrative costs.