Court Opinion

ID: 9523946
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:48:42.015169+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:08:40.754256
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE COMPTON,
with whom CHIEF JUSTICE CARRICO and JUSTICE STEPHENSON join, dissenting.
I would answer the certified question in the negative.
The statement of Virginia’s public policy against disability discrimination is contained in the Virginians With Disabilities Act (VDA), Code §§ 51.5-1 through -52. The General Assembly has stated explicitly that the VDA provides the exclusive state remedy for employment discrimination based on disability: “The relief available for violations of this chapter shall be limited to the relief set forth in this section.” Code § 51.5-46(C). Violations “of this chapter” refers to disability discrimination generally. Code § 51.5-41 (A) (“No employer shall discriminate in employment or promotion practices against an otherwise qualified person with a disability solely because of such disability.”).
The majority argues that the VDA does not apply because the employer, a government contractor, was not covered by the VDA. Clearly, the VDA does not apply to employers “covered by the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973.” Code § 51.5-41(F). But this does not save Bradick’s claim.
The VDA’s clear statement that it does not apply to employers covered by the federal Act plainly indicates that the General Assembly did not intend employees, who could proceed against their employers under the federal Act, to have the option of proceeding under the VDA, the exclusive state remedy.