Chap. 343.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Sections 5 and 11 of Chapter 1 of the
Acts of the General Assembly of Virginia, extra session, 1936-1937, approved
December 18, 1936, as amended and known, designated and cited as the Virginia
Unemployment Compensation Act, said sections relating to disqualifications for
benefits, and to administration of said act. [S B 325]

Approved March 29, 1940

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That
sections five and eleven of chapter one of the Acts of the General
Assembly of Virginia, extra session, nineteen hundred and thirty-six-
nineteen hundred and thirty-seven, approved December eighteenth,
nineteen hundred and thirty-six, cited as the Virginia Unemployment
Compensation Act as heretofore amended, be amended and re-enacted
so as to read as follows:

Section 5. Disqualification for Benefits——An individual shall be
disqualified for benefits—

(a) For the week in which he has left work voluntarily without
good cause, if so found by the commission, and for not less than the
one or more than the five weeks which immediately follow such week
(in addition to the waiting period), as determined by the commission
according to the circumstances in each case.

(b) For the week in which he has been discharged for miscon-
duct connected with his work, if so found by the commission, and for
not less than the one nor more than the nine weeks which immediately
follow such week (in addition to the waiting period), as determined
by the commission in each case according to the seriousness of the
misconduct.

(c) If the commission finds that he has failed, without good
cause, either to apply for available, suitable work when so directed
by the employment office or the commission or to accept suitable
work when offered him, or to return to his customary self-employment,
if any, when so directed by the commission. Such disqualification
shall continue for the week in which such failure occurred and for not
less than the one nor more than the five weeks which immediately
follow such week (in addition to the waiting period) as determined by
the commission according to the circumstances in each case.

(1) In determining whether or not any work is suitable for an
individual, the commission shall consider the degree of risk in-
volved to his health, safety, and morals, his physical fitness and
prior training, his experience and prior earnings, his length of un-
employment and prospects for securing local work in his customary
occupation, and the distance of the available work from his resi-
dence.

(2) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this act, no
work shall be deemed suitable and benefits shall not be denied
under this act to any otherwise eligible individual for refusing to
accept new work under any of the following conditions: (A) if the
position offered is vacant due directly to a strike, lockout, or other
labor dispute; (B) if the wages, hours, or other conditions of the
work offered are substantially less favorable to the individual than
those prevailing for similar work in the locality; (C) if as a condi-
tion of being employed the individual would be required to join a
company union to resign from or refrain from joining any bona-
fide labor organization.

(d) For any week with respect to which the commission finds
that his total or partial unemployment is due to a stoppage of work
which exists because of a labor dispute at the factory, establishment,
or other premises at which he is or was last employed, provided that
this subsection shall not apply if it is shown to the satisfaction of the
commission that—

(1) He is not participating in or financing or directly in-
ae in the labor dispute which caused the stoppage of work;
an ,

(2) He does not belong to a grade or class of workers of
which, immediately before the commencement of the stoppage,
there were members unemployed at the premises at which the
stoppage occurs, any of whom are participating in or financing or
directly interested in the dispute.

Provided, that if in any case separate branches of work which are
commonly conducted as separate businesses in separate premises are
conducted in separate departments of the same premises, each such
department shall, for the purposes of this subsection, be deemed to
be a separate factory, establishment, or other premises.

(e) For any week with respect to which he is receiving or has
received remuneration in the form of—

(1) Wages in lieu of notice;

(2) Compensation for temporary partial disability under the
Workmen’s Compensation Law of any State or under a similar
law of the United States; or

(3) Old-age benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act,
or similar payments under any act of Congress; provided, that if
such remuneration is less than the benefits which would other-
wise be due under this act, he shall be entitled to receive for such
week, if otherwise eligible, benefits reduced by the amount of
such remuneration.

(f) For any week with respect to which or a part of which he has
received or is seeking unemployment benefits under an unemploy-
ment compensation law of any other State or of the United States;
provided, that if the appropriate agency of such other State or of the
United States finally determines that he is not entitled to such un-
employment benefits, this disqualification shall not apply.

Section 11. Administration—(a) Duties and Powers of Com-
mission.—It shall be the duty of the commission to administer this
act; and it shall have power and authority to adopt, amend, or re-
scind such rules and regulations, to employ such persons, make such
expenditures, require such reports, make such investigations, and
take such other action as it deems necessary or suitable to that end.
Such rules and regulations shall be effective upon publication in the
manner, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, which the
commission shall prescribe. The commission shall determine its own
organization and methods of procedure in accordance with the pro-
visions of this act, and shall have an official seal which shall be ju-
dicially noticed. Not later than the first day of February of each
year, the commission shall submit to the Governor a report covering
the administration and operation of this act during the preceding
calendar year and shall make such recommendations for amendments
to this act as the commission deems proper. Such report shall include
a balance sheet of the moneys in the fund and in the Unemployment
Trust fund to the credit of the State in which there shall be provided,
if possible, a reserve against the liability in future years to pay benefits
in excess of the then current contributions, which reserve shall be
set up by the commission in accordance with accepted actuarial
principles on the basis of statistics of employment, business activity,
and other relevant factors for the longest possible period. Whenever
the commission believes that a change in contribution or benefit
rates will become necessary to protect the solvency of the fund, it
shall promptly so inform the Governor and the General Assembly,
and make recommendations with respect thereto.

(b) Regulations and general and special rules.—General and
special rules may be adopted, amended, or rescinded by the commis-
sion only after public hearing or opportunity to be heard thereon, of
which proper notice has been given. General rules shall become
effective ten days after filing with the Secretary of the Common-
wealth and publication in one or more newspapers of general circula-
tion in this State. Special rules shall become effective ten days after
notification to or mailing to the last known address of the individuals
or concerns affected thereby. Regulations may be adopted, amended,
or rescinded by the commission and shall become effective in the
manner and at the time prescribed by the commission.

(c) Publication—The commission shall cause to be printed for
distribution to the public the text of this act, the commission’s regula-
tions and general rules, its annual reports to the Governor, and any
other material the commission deems relevant and suitable and shall
furnish the same to any person upon application therefor.

(d) Personnel.—Subject to other provisions of this act the com-
mission is authorized to appoint, fix the compensation, and prescribe
the duties and powers of such officers, accountants, experts, and
other persons as may be necessary in the performance of its duties.
For the administration of a merit system for the selection of personnel
of the commission, an impartial body, to be known as the Merit
System Council, consisting of three members, shall be appointed by
the commission. One of the members appointed by the commission
shall be appointed for a term of two years, one member for a term
of four years and the other member for a term of six years; subse-
quent appointments by the commission shall be for a term of six
years, except appointments to fill vacancies, which shall be for the
unexpired terms. No member of the Merit System Council shall
otherwise be employed as an official or employee of the commission
The compensation of the members of such Merit System Council
shall be fixed by the commission. The Merit System Council shal}!
provide for the holding of examinations to determine the qualifica-
tions of applicants for the positions so classified. Except for tem-
porary appointment not to exceed six months in duration, the com-
mission shall appoint its personnel on the basis of efficiency and fitness
as determined in such examinations, provided, however, that under any
merit system established by rules and regulations adopted by the com-
mission or by the Merit System Council under the authority of the com-
mission, the employees of the commission who were in the employ of
the commission on January first, nineteen hundred and forty, and wha
are in the employ of the commission at the time of said examination,
shall be automatically admitted to an examination covering the nature
of the work being performed by such employee in the position held
by such employee at the time of such examination and such employee
shall be retained as an employee of the commission, provided such
employee attains a passing grade in such examination, subject to
rules and regulations for a merit system of personnel administration
adopted by the commission, or by the Merit System Council under
the authority of the commission; and, provided also, that the com-
mission may, in its discretion, require no such examinations of one
confidential secretary to each commissioner and to each assistant
attorney general appointed by the Attorney General as counsel to
the commission; and provided further, that no examination may be
required of any person appointed under section six-(d) of this act.
All other positions shall be filled by persons selected and appointed
on a non-partisan merit basis. All salaries or remunerations in excess
of one thousand dollars per annum shall first be approved by the
Governor. The commission may delegate to any such person so
appointed such power and authority as it deems reasonable and
proper for the effective administration of this act, and may, in its
discretion, bond any person handling moneys or signing checks here-
under.

(e) Advisory councils—The commission may appoint a State
advisory council and local advisory councils, composed in each case
of an equal number of employer representatives and employee repre-
sentatives who may fairly be regarded as representatives because of
their vocation, employment, or affiliations, and of such members
representing the general public as the commission may designate; the
members of such councils shall serve at the pleasure of the commis-
sion. Such councils shall aid the commission in formulating policies
and discussing problems related to the administration of this act and
in assuring impartiality and freedom from political influence in the
solution of such problems. Such advisory councils shall serve without
compensation, but shall be reimbursed for any necessary expenses.

(f) Employment stabilization —The commission, with the advice
and aid of such advisory councils as it may appoint, and through its
appropriate divisions, shall take all appropriate steps to reduce and
prevent unemployment; to encourage and assist in the adoption of
practical methods of vocational training, retraining and vocational
guidance; to investigate, recommend, advise, and assist in the es-
tablishment and operation, by municipalities, counties, school districts,
and the State, of reserves for public works to be used in times of
business depression and unemployment; to promote the re-employ-
ment of unemployed workers throughout the State in every other
way that may be feasible; and to these ends to carry on and publish
the results of investigations and research studies.

(g) Records and reports——Each employing unit shall keep true
and accurate work records, containing such information as the com-
mission may prescribe. Such records shall be open to inspection and
be subject to being copied by the commission or its authorized repre-
sentatives at any reasonable time and as often as may be necessary.
The commission may require from any employing unit any sworn or
unsworn reports, with respect to persons employed by it, which the
commission deems necessary for the effective administration of this
act. Information thus obtained shall not be published or be opened
to public inspection, other than to public employees in the perform-
ance of their public duties, in any manner revealing the employing
unit’s identity, but any claimant at a hearing before an appeal tri-
bunal or the commission shall be supplied with information from such
records to the extent necessary for the proper presentation of his
claim. Any member or employee of the commission who violates
any provision of this section shall be fined not less than twenty dollars
nor more than two hundred dollars, or confined in jail for not longer
than ninety days, or both.

(h) Study.—The commission shall investigate and study the
operation of this act upon the basis of the actual contributions and
benefit experience hereunder with a view to classifying or grouping
employers, employments, occupations and industries with respect to
the frequency and severity of unemployment of each taking due
account of any relevant and measurable factors relating thereto for
the purpose of determining the practicability of establishing a rating
system which will most equitably operate to rate the unemployment
risk and fix the contribution to such fund of each employer, group of
employers, employment, occupation and industry, and to encourage
the stabilization of employment therein. The commission shall report
its findings and recommendations concerning this matter to the
Governor not later than December first, nineteen hundred and
thirty-nine, for transmission to the next succeeding session of the
General Assembly. : :

(1) Oaths and witnesses.—In the discharge of the duties imposed
by this act, the chairman of an appeal tribunal and any duly au-
thorized representative or member of the commission shall have power
to administer oaths and affirmations, take depositions, certify to
official acts, and issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of wit-
nesses and the production of books, papers, correspondence, memo-
randa, and other records deemed necessary as evidence in connection
with a disputed claim or the administration of this act.

(j) Subpoenas.—In case of contumacy by, or refusal to obey a
subpoena issued to any person, any court of this State within the
jurisdiction of which the inquiry is carried on or within the jurisdiction
of which said person guilty of contumacy or refusal to obey is found
or resides or transacts business, upon application by the commission
or its duly authorized representative, shall have jurisdiction to issue
to such person an order requiring such person to appear before an
appeal tribunal, a commissioner, the commission, or its duly au-
thorized representative, there to produce evidence if so ordered or
there to give testimony touching the matter under investigation or
in question; and any failure to obey such order of the court may be
punished by said court as a contempt thereof. Any person who shall,
without just cause, fail or refuse to attend and testify or to answer
to any lawful inquiry or to produce books, papers, correspondence,
memoranda and other records, if in his power so to do, in obedience
to the subpoena of the commission, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor,
and, upon conviction shall be subject to a fine of not more than one
thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term of not more than one
year, or both; each day such violation continues shall be deemed to
be a separate offense.

(k) Protection against self- incrimination—No person shall be
excused from attending and testifying or from producing books,
papers, correspondence, memoranda, and other records before the
commission or in obedience to the subpoena of the commission or any
member thereof or any duly authorized representative of the com-
mission in any cause or proceeding before the commission, on the
ground that the testimony or evidence, documentary or otherwise,
required of him may tend to incriminate him or subject him to a
penalty or forfeiture; but no individual shall be prosecuted or sub-
jected to any penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any trans-
action, matter, or thing concerning which he is compelled, after having
claimed his privilege against self-incrimination, to testify or produce
evidence, documentary or otherwise, except that such individual so
testifying shall not be exempt from prosecution and punishment for
perjury committed in so testifying.

(1) State-Federal cooperation.—In the administration of this act,
the commission shall cooperate to the fullest extent consistent with
the provisions of this act, with the Social Security Board, created by
the Social Security Act; shall make such reports, in such form and
containing such information as the Social Security Board may from
time to time require, and shall comply with such provisions as the
Social Security Board may from time to time find necessary to assure
the correctness and verification of such reports; and shall comply
with the regulations prescribed by the Social Security Board governing
the expenditures of such sums as may be allotted and paid to this
State under Title III of the Social Security Act for the purpose of
assisting in the administration of this act.

The commission shall further make its records available to the
Railroad Retirement Board, created by the Railroad Retirement Act
and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, and shall furnish to
the Railroad Retirement Board at the expense of the Railroad Re-
tirement Board, such copies thereof as the board shall deem necessary
for its purposes in accordance with the provisions of section three
hundred and three-(c) of the Social Security Act as amended.

The commission may afford reasonable cooperation with every
agency of the United States charged with the administration of any
unemployment insurance law.

Upon request therefor, the commission shall furnish to any agency
of the United States charged with the administration of public works
or assistance through public employment, the name, address, ordinary
occupation, and employment status of each recipient of benefits and
such recipient’s rights to further benefits under his act.

(m) Reciprocal agreements.—Subject to the approval of the
Governor, the commission is hereby authorized to enter into arrange-
ments with the appropriate agencies of other States or the Federal
government whereby individuals performing services in this and
other States for a single employing unit under circumstances not
specifically provided for in section two (j) of this act, or under similar
provisions in the unemployment compensation laws of such other
States, shall be deemed to be engaged in employment performed en-
tirely within this State or within one of such other States and whereby
potential rights to benefits accumulated under the unemployment
compensation laws of one or more States or under such a law of the
Federal government, or both, may constitute the basis for the pay-
ment of benefits through a single appropriate agency of any State
under terms which the commission finds will be fair and reasonable
as to all affected interests and will not result in any substantial loss
to the fund.

Subject to the approval of the Governor, the commission is also
authorized to enter into arrangements with the appropriate agencies
of other States or of the Federal government (one) whereby wages
or services, upon the basis of which an individual may become entitled
to benefits under the unemployment compensation law of another
State or of the Federal government, shall be deemed to be wages for
employment by employers for the purposes of section three and
section four-(e) of this act, provided such other State agency or
agency of the Federal government has agreed to reimburse the fund
for such portion of benefits paid under this act upon the basis of such
wages or services as the commission finds will be fair and reasonable
as to all affected interests, and (two) whereby the commission will
reimburse other State or Federal agencies charged with the adminis-
tration of unemployment compensation laws with such reasonable
portion of benefits, paid under the law of any such other States or of
the Federal government upon the basis of employment or wages for
employment by employers, as the commission finds will be fair and
reasonable as to all affected interests.

Reimbursements so payable shall be deemed to be benefits for the
purposes of sections three (c) and nine of this act, but no reimburse-
ment so payable shall be charged against any employer’s account for
the purposes of section seven of this act. The commission is hereby
authorized to make to other State or Federal agencies and receive
from such other State or Federal agencies, reimbursements from or to
the fund, in accordance with arrangements pursuant to this section.

2. An emergency existing, this act shall be in force from its
passage.