labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Perhaps there would be more to report from Virginia on its minimum wage, if Virginia had been another state, with another legislature. But in the unique tradition of American politics, the ways politics go is a local issue, and no issue is perhaps more local than the minimum wage. So when the Virginia General Assembly this year considered a new Virginia minimum wage—a change from its current level of $5.15 per hour to $6.50 per hour—the General Assembly ultimately decided that the change to the Virginia minimum wage was not for their state and they rejected it.

The Attorney General of the state, Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell has also announced his view that any living wages all also not appropriate for any city, town, or community in the state of Virginia. McDonnell takes that view from his reading of the so called Dillon Rule. The Dillon Rule has been around for nearly 140 years, and it actually is an old rule that once was used in many states across the Union.

What it basically says is that the state rule trumps any local authority to determine certain issues. In other words, in at least McDonnell’s view, the Dillon Rule allows the state of Virginia to tell local governments and even state colleges and universities that they cannot pass any sort of living wage laws in their areas. Yet there are state laws currently in Virginia that allow local governments and colleges to decide how to set up their own bidding and licensing processes when they deal with contractors on public processes and projects.

How will Dillon Rule and no new Virginia minimum wage affect you employers out there in the field? For starters, in 2007 you did not need to buy yourselves new Virginia minimum wage labor law posters.

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