Bill > HB1175

This bill, titled "Employment discrimination; prohibited," aims to strengthen protections against discrimination in public employment within Virginia. It explicitly prohibits state agencies, local governments, and school boards from discriminating in employment based on violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 11 of the Virginia Constitution, or the Virginia Human Rights Act, which is a set of laws (codified as §§ 2.2-3900, et seq.) designed to prevent unlawful discrimination. The bill achieves this by adding new sections to the Code of Virginia that clearly state these prohibitions for state agencies, local government entities, and school boards, and by amending existing sections related to grievance procedures for state employees, local government employees, and teachers to align with these broader anti-discrimination provisions. Essentially, it updates existing laws to ensure that discrimination in public employment is prohibited under a wider range of constitutional and statutory protections, replacing specific protected characteristics like race or sex with a more general prohibition against violating established constitutional and human rights laws.