Chap. 373.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 1799, 1802, 1807, 1817,
1822 and 1830 and to repeal sections 1831 of the Code of Virginia. [H B 267]

Approved March 24, 1922.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, ‘hat sec-
tions seventeen hundred and ninety-nine, eighteen hundred and two,
eighteen hundred and seven, eighteen hundred and _ seventeen,
eighteen hundred and twenty-two and eighteen hundred and thirty
of the Code of Virginia be amended and re-enacted so as to read
as follows: ,

Section 1799. Powers and duties of commissioner of labor—The
commissioner of labor shall have power to take and preserve testi-
mony, examine witnesses, administer oaths, and under proper restric-
tion enter any public institution of the State, and any factory, store,
workshop, laundry, or mine, and. interrogate any person employed
therein or connected therewith, or the proper officer of a corporation,
or file a written or printed list of interrogatories and require full and
complete answers to the same, to be returned under oath within thirty
days of the receipt of said list of questions.

He shall have general supervision and control of the bureau of
labor and industrial statistics and shall have authority to appoint
such assistants as may be necessary to carry out the objects and pur-
poses of the bureau.

He shall secure the enforcement of all laws relating to the in-
spection of factories, mercantile establishments, mills, workshops, and
commercial institutions in the State and to aid him in this work shall
have power to appoint such factory inspectors and other assistants
as may be necessary. The duties of such inspectors and other as-
sistants shall be prescribed by the commissioner of labor.

The commissioner of labor, his assistants and factory inspectors
shall visit and inspect at reasonable hours, as often as practicable,
the factories, mercantile establishments, mills, workshops and com-
mercial institutions in the State, where goods, wares, or merchandise
are manufactured, purchased, or sold, at wholesale or retail. The
commissioner of labor shall report in writing to the governor an-
nually concerning the work of his department, with such other in-
formation and with such recommendations as he may deem proper.

It shall be the duty of the commissioner of labor to enforce the
provisions of this chapter, and to prosecute all violations of law re-
lating to the inspection of factories, mercantile establishments, mills,
workshops and commercial institutions in this State before any jus-
tice of the peace or court of competent jurisdiction.
It shall be the duty of the Commonwealth’s attorney of the proper
county or city, upon the request of the commissioner of labor, or any
of his assistants or deputies, to prosecute any violation of law, which
is made the duty of said commissioner of labor to enforce.

Section 1802. Fine for refusing to answer proper interrogatories.
—If any person, who may be sworn to give testimony, shall wilfully
fail or refuse to answer any legal and proper question propounded to
him concerning the subject of such examination as indicated in sec-
tion seventeen hundred and ninety-nine, or if any person, to whom
a written or printed list of such interrogatories has been furnished
by the commissioner of labor, shall neglect or refuse to fully answer
and return the same under oath, or if any person in charge of any
factory, mill, workshop, laundry, mercantile or manufacturing estab-
lishment shall refuse admission to, or obstruct in any manner the
inspection of such establishment or the proper performance of the
authorized duties of the commissioner of labor or any of his assist-
ants or any factory inspector, or other duly authorized representative
of the bureau of labor and industrial statistics, he shall be guilty of
misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not ex-
ceeding one hundred nor less than twenty-five dollars, or imprisoned
in jail not exceeding ninety days, or both.

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as permitting the com-
missioner or any employee of said bureau to make use of any in-
formation or statistics gathered from any person, company, or cor-
poration for any purposes other than those of this chapter.

Section 1807. Employers to provide seats for female employees ;
penalty for violation.—Chairs, stools, or other suitable seats shall be
maintained in all factories, shops, mills, laundries, mercantile and
manufacturing establishments, except fruit and vegetable canning fac-
tories, for the use of female employees therein to the number of at
least one seat for every three females employed, and the use thereof
by such employees shall be allowed at such times and to such extent
as may be necessary for the preservation of their health. Such seats
shall be placed where the work of such females is to be principally
performed, whether in front of or behind a counter, table, desk, or
other fixture. Any employer of female help in this State who shall
neglect or refuse to provide seats as required in this section, or shall
make any rules, orders, or regulations in his factory, shop, mill,
laundry, store, or other place of business requiring females to remain
standing when not necessarily employed in service or labor therein
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon a conviction there-
of shall be fined not exceeding twenty-five dollars and costs, at the
discretion of the court. In any manufacturing establishment where
it 1S necessary on account of the nature of the work in such estab-
lishment for the female employees to stand while working, it shall
be deemed a sufficient compliance with this section if suitable rest
rooms are provided to which such employees may go at all reason-
able times.

Section 1817. Protection of discharged employees and of em-
ployces voluntarily leaving service of employer.—No person or per-
sons, partnership, corporation or association doing business in this
State, or any agent or attorney of such person or persons, partner-
ship, corporation or association, after having discharged any em-
ployee from the service of such person or persons, partnership, corpo-
ration or association, or after any employee having voluntarily left
the service of such person or persons, partnership, corporation or as-
sociation, shall wilfully and maliciously prevent or attempt to pre-
vent by word or writing, directly or indirectly, such discharged em-
ployee or such employee voluntarily leaving from obtaining employ-
ment with any other person or persons, partnership, corporation or
association. For violation of this section the offender shall be guilty
of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction thereof, be: fined not less
than one hundred nor more than five hundred dollars. But this sec-
tion shall not be construed as prohibiting any person or persons, part-
nership, corporation or association from giving on application for
any other person or corporation, a truthful statement of the reason
for such discharge, or a truthful statement concerning the character,
industry, and ability of such person voluntarily leaving.

Section 1822. Factories, workshops, mercantile establishments,
and offices to have certain sanitary arrangements.—Every factory in
which five or more persons are employed, and every factory, work-
shop, mercantile or other establishment, or office, in which two or
more children, under eighteen years of age, or women, are employed,
shall be kept clean and free from effluvia arising from any drain,
privy or nuisance, and shall be provided with a sufficient number of
water closets, earth closets or privies, and reasonable access shall be
afforded thereto; and whenever one or more males and one or more
females are employed together, a sufficient number of separate water
closets, earth closets or privies, with partitions between to extend
from floor to ceiling, shall be provided for the use of each sex, and
plainly designated; and all rooms in which toilets for males and
females are installed after July first, nineteen hundred and twenty-
two, shall have separate entrances for each sex; no person shall be
allowed to use a closet or privy which is provided for persons of the
other sex. In buildings used exclusively for offices the provisions
of this section shall not apply, if separate toilets are within convenient
access in the buildings wherein the offices are located.

Section 1830. Safety appliances; powers of commissioner of
labor—The owner or person in charge of a factory, shop, manu-
facturing establishment, where machinery is used, shall provide, in
the discretion of the commissioner of labor, belt shifters or other
mechanical contrivances for the purpose of throwing on or off belts
on pulleys. Whenever practicable, all machinery shall be provided
with loose pulleys. All vats, elevators, saws, planers, cogs, gearing,
belting, shafting, set screws, shapers, corner machines shall be prop-
erly guarded. No person shall remove or make ineffective any safe-
guard around or attached to machinery, vats, or elevators while the
same are in use, unless for the purpose of immediately making re-
pairs thereto, and all such safeguards so removed shall be promptly
replaced. If a machine or any part thereof is in a dangerous con-
dition, or is not properly guarded, notice thereof shall be given to
the manager or owner in charge of such operation, and unless such
machinery is repaired or made safe within thirty days after such
notice, the use thereof may be prohibited by the commissioner of
labor and a notice to that effect shall be attached thereto. Such
notice shall not be removed until the machine is made safe and the
required safeguards are provided, and in the meantime such unsafe
or dangerous machinery shall not be used. When in the opinion of
the commissioner of labor it is necessary, the work rooms, halls and
stairs leading to the work rooms shall be properly lighted; and in
cities of the first class, if deemed necessary by the commissioner
of labor, a proper light shall be kept burning by the owner or
lessee in the public hallways, near the stairs upon the entrance floor
and upon the other floors on every workday in the year, from the
time when the building is opened for the use in the morning until
the time it is closed in the evening, except at times when the influx
of natural light shall make artificial light unnecessary. Such lights
shall be independent of the motive power of such factory.

2. Section eighteen hundred and thirty-one of the Code of Vir-
ginia is hereby repealed.