2000 Summary of Legislation LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT Published by the Iowa General Assembly -- Legislative Service Bureau

LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT LEGISLATION

SENATE FILE 2274 - Gubernatorial Executive Orders -- Null and Void -- VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR (full text of act)

   BY IVERSON. This bill would have declared null and void Executive Order Numbers 7 and 11, which were issued by the Governor on September 14, 1999.

   Executive Order Number 7 rescinded the prior executive order enacted on April 30, 1992, Executive Order Number 44. The two executive orders relate to equal opportunity and affirmative action programs in state employment. The protected classes of persons enumerated under these programs in the 1999 gubernatorial executive order are modified from those enumerated in the 1992 gubernatorial executive order. The 1999 gubernatorial executive order also created a task force for equal opportunity in employment and defined its duties.

   Executive Order Number 11 requires each agency to initiate rulemaking proceedings to adopt uniform waiver rules providing for both mandatory and discretionary waiver of rules under different standards set out in the uniform waiver rules. Existing law does not require an agency to adopt uniform waiver rules but does require an agency in the preamble to its rulemaking filings to include the reasons for its failure to provide for waiver of rules in specified situations.

SENATE FILE 2307 - Public and Workplace Safety and Wage Payment Collection (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS AND LABOR RELATIONS. This Act makes changes to, or adds to, definitions in the Boiler and Unfired Steam Pressure Vessels Law and the Elevator Law, and specifically provides for the applicability of the Iowa Wage Payment Collection Law to former employees.

   The Act replaces, within the Boiler and Unfired Steam Pressure Vessels Law, the definition of "places of public assembly" with a definition for "public assembly." In contrast to the prior definition, the new definition includes a building or structure primarily used as a museum, arena, exhibition hall, dormitory, bowling alley, physical fitness center, family entertainment center, lodge hall, union hall, pool hall, casino, funeral home, hospital, or child care or adult day care; and includes any building or structure owned by or leased to the state, or its agencies or political subdivisions. The Act also stipulates that the definition does not include the assembly of people in any building used exclusively by an employer for employee training or instruction.

   The Act creates within the Elevator Law a definition of "owner" of a facility. Under the Act, "owner" means the owner of the facility unless the facility is a new installation or is undergoing major alterations, in which case the person installing or altering the facility is the owner until the elevator has passed final inspection by the Division of Labor Services of the Department of Workforce Development.

   The Act also establishes that the Iowa Wage Payment Collection Law applies to an employer's former as well as current employees until the rights and obligations established in the law are fulfilled.

SENATE FILE 2373 - Workers' Compensation -- Nonresident Employers -- Earnings Calculation -- Lien Amount Approval (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS AND LABOR RELATIONS. This Act makes several changes to the workers' compensation system.

   The Act provides that a nonresident employer who has services performed by an employee in this state is deemed to be doing business in this state and is therefore subject to the jurisdiction of the Workers' Compensation Commissioner and the laws pertaining to workers' compensation. The changes further provide that the Workers' Compensation Commissioner has jurisdiction over an entity if that entity has sufficient minimum contacts with the state. The Act also provides for the service of process on a nonresident employer as provided in Code Section 617.3 and on any person based on the Rules of Civil Procedure. The previous Code provision governing service and notice is repealed by this Act.

   The Act adds provisions detailing how to determine an employee's weekly earnings for purposes of determining workers' compensation benefits if the employee is not employed for the entire 13-week period immediately preceding the injury or if earnings of other employees in a similar position cannot be determined. Generally, the Act provides that the employee's weekly earnings for weeks not employed or if otherwise undetermined will be established in an amount that reflects what the employee would have earned or in an amount which otherwise fairly reflects the employee's earnings.

   The Act also eliminates the current Code requirement that a lien for the costs of legal, medical, hospital, and burial services be approved by the Workers' Compensation Commissioner before it can be enforceable.

HOUSE FILE 2376 - Veterans Preference -- Public Employment (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT. This Act provides that at the time of application for appointment or employment in a public position in this state or at an interview for the position, a military veteran applicant may request notification of refusal only, or notification of refusal and the specific grounds for refusal, which shall be sent within 10 days after the successful applicant is selected.

RELATED LEGISLATION

SENATE FILE 228 -- School Employment or Volunteer Record Checks (Complete summary under EDUCATION.)

   This Act authorizes the administrators of a public school district or an accredited private school to have access to founded child and dependent adult abuse information in the possession of the Department of Human Services for purposes of a volunteer or employment record check.

SENATE FILE 2092 -- Substantive Code Corrections (Complete summary under STATE GOVERNMENT.)

   This Act contains statutory corrections that adjust language to reflect current practices, insert earlier omissions, delete redundancies and inaccuracies, delete temporary language, resolve inconsistencies and conflicts, update ongoing provisions, or remove ambiguities. An internal reference is corrected in language relating to review of action or intended action by the State Public Defender on attorney fee claims. Appointment and removal authority provisions relating to the State Public Defender are clarified to provide that the State Public Defender may both appoint and remove not only the local public defender but also other employees listed in that provision. Language relating to public employment and appointment preferences for honorably discharged persons is amended to apply the definition of "veteran" found in Iowa Code Section 35.1 to Code Chapter 35C. The word "contractor" is substituted for the word "employer" in language relating to the contesting of citations or proposed assessments of penalties by the Labor Commissioner against contractors. The Department of Economic Development is specified as the department responsible for the adoption of rules pertaining to the allocation of moneys to support program capital costs for the Accelerated Career Education Program. The words "of the inmate" are added to language relating to the deduction of amounts from the earnings in an inmate's general account for legal and administrative financial obligations to provide that it is the inmate's obligations for which the deductions are to be made.

SENATE FILE 2145 -- National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact (Complete summary under CRIMINAL LAW, PROCEDURE & CORRECTIONS.)

   This Act enacts the Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact Act of 1998. The Act creates and organizes an electronic sharing system between the federal government and the states for the purpose of exchanging criminal history records for background checks for governmental licensing or employment, immigration matters, and national security clearances.

SENATE FILE 2368 -- Family Investment Program -- Miscellaneous Provisions (Complete summary under HUMAN SERVICES.)

   This Act makes various changes to the Family Investment Program, including employment-related requirements.

SENATE FILE 2411 -- Public Retirement Systems (Complete summary under STATE GOVERNMENT.)

   This Act makes numerous changes pertaining to public retirement systems, including the Public Safety Peace Officers' Retirement, Accident, and Disability System (Code Chapter 97A), the Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System (Code Chapter 97B), the Statewide Fire and Police Retirement System (Code Chapter 411), and the Judicial Retirement System.

SENATE FILE 2428 -- Appropriations -- Economic Development (Complete summary under APPROPRIATIONS.)

   This Act makes appropriations from the General Fund of the State and from the Special Employment Security Contingency Fund to the Department of Workforce Development for the administration of the department and for specific programs.

SENATE FILE 2439 -- Accelerated Career Education and Job Training (Complete summary under ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.)

   This Act amends the Accelerated Career Education Program Act and establishes an Accelerated Career Education Grant Program and Fund.

HOUSE FILE 2172 -- Law Enforcement Employment -- Polygraph Examinations (Complete summary under CRIMINAL LAW, PROCEDURE & CORRECTIONS.)

   This Act permits a polygraph examination of an applicant for a position with a law enforcement agency of a political subdivision who would have direct access to prisoner funds, other cash assets, and confidential information.

HOUSE FILE 2463 -- Department of Personnel -- Miscellaneous Provisions (Complete summary under STATE GOVERNMENT.)

   This Act makes changes governing the employment of persons covered under the state employee merit system. The Act eliminates the requirement of hiring, retaining and promoting merit system employees based primarily upon competitive examinations.

© 1998 Cornell College and League of Women Voters of Iowa

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Last update: WED June 28 2000
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