University of Richmond Law Graduate Discovers Gaffe by Virginia Lawmakers
July 12, 2004
The Virginia General Assembly will not have Tuesday off, thanks to Carl E. "Buddy" Omohundro Jr., who graduated from the University of Richmond School of Law in 2002.
The lawmakers are meeting in special session to correct a whopper of a legislative error they made last spring that grants employees the right to request Sundays off. On April 1, the General Assembly mistakenly resurrected a law that gave workers Sundays off, and no one noticed it until Omohundro, an associate with the McGuireWoods law firm in Richmond, found the mistake while doing research for a client. The bill passed 40-0 in the Senate and 88-9 in the House.
The intent of the legislators was to eliminate the penalties that were part of obsolete Sunday closing laws. But what they did was accidentally keep the old laws while repealing a section that was added over the years to give exemptions to virtually all Virginia businesses.
In effect, Omohundro discovered, the law gave employees the right to request Sundays or Saturdays off based on their religion. And if businesses refuse, they could be fined up to $500 for each violation or have to pay employees triple their normal wages for working on the Sabbath.
When he read the law, Omohundro said he thought, "I must be missing something. They wouldn't have done this." But do it, they did. When that sunk in, Omohundro realized it was a very "big deal" and that it could have a "big impact." He made a number of phone calls, consulted with his colleagues at McGuireWoods and alerted the Virginia Chamber of Commerce.
He was correct in assuming it would be a big deal. Stories quickly appeared in Richmond and state media. Omohundro also was interviewed by the Washington Post and appeared on National Public Radio.
Business leaders urged Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner to call a special session of the General Assembly. Warner considered asking the Department of Labor and Industry not to enforce the law, which went into effect July 1.
Next, the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and four large companies successfully petitioned a Richmond judge for a 90-day injunction blocking the law, and Warner called for the special session to undo the mistake. It will be a record-setting 116th day of the session, which officially ended in April.
Not catching the mistake were two cabinet secretaries, three lawyers in Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore's office, lawyers in the legislature's legal department and several advisers to Gov. Warner.
Omohundro said he has gotten good feedback from making the "catch," but one of his colleagues jokingly said, "Yeah, I was going to ask for Sunday off until you blew the whistle."
Omohundro was editor-in-chief of the Richmond Law Review and was awarded two prizes in labor law at graduation: the CALI Excellence for the Future Award in Employment Discrimination Law and The American Bar Association-Bureau of National Affairs Award for Excellence in the Study of Labor and Employment Law.
A Richmond native and graduate of Clover Hill High School, he received his bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia in 1992, where he earned first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference football honors in 1991-92. After earning his law degree and an M.B.A. from the University of Richmond, he clerked for Justice Elizabeth Lacy of The Virginia Supreme Court.