RICHMOND — After the violent deaths of WDBJ reporting duo Alison Parker and Adam Ward, Del. Chris Hurst has introduced legislation that he hopes will reduce similar incidents of workplace violence.
Hurst, D-Blacksburg, introduced a measure to grant civil immunity to employers who share information about violent acts or threats made by current or former employees to potential employers or law enforcement.
His bill would also grant civil immunity to employers who take such information into consideration when making hiring decisions.
Under the bill, a job candidate could not sue a current, former or prospective employer for sharing information about that candidate’s previous violent or threatening behavior or for taking a person’s violent history into account when making hiring decisions.
“It was not known by WDBJ what kinds of behavior Alison and Adam’s killer had demonstrated at other, prior television stations,” Hurst said. “It was only after the fact, by reporting from journalists, that we began to get a more complete picture of his employment history and the aggressive or violent behaviors that he displayed at other TV stations across the country.”
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Hurst, a former WDBJ (Channel 7) anchor and reporter, began dating and fell in love with Parker when he worked for the local news station. His campaign for elected office stemmed in part from wanting to honor his late girlfriend with action.
Former WDBJ reporter Vester Flanagan shot and killed Parker and Ward in 2015 during a live television interview at Smith Mountain Lake — an incident that stemmed from Flanagan’s pent-up anger about his former colleagues.
Flanagan was hired by WDBJ in 2012 and fired the following year. When he was fired, he caused a disturbance at WDBJ and was escorted out of the building by law enforcement, but that wasn’t the only time he displayed erratic behavior.
A few months after Flanagan was hired, then-WDBJ news director Dan Dennison discussed with Flanagan three separate incidents in which his co-workers felt uncomfortable or threatened by his behavior, according to court documents.
Flanagan “quickly gathered a reputation as someone who was difficult to work with,” said Jeff Marks, WDBJ president and manager after the 2015 shooting.
Flanagan later sued WDBJ, but the lawsuit was dismissed in July 2014.
In 2000, Flanagan filed a similar discrimination lawsuit against the television station where he worked in Tallahassee.
Flanagan had a troubled employment history that WDBJ was unaware of when the Roanoke TV station hired him.
He worked at stations in San Francisco; Tallahassee, Florida; Greenville, North Carolina; Midland, Texas; and Savannah, Georgia.
Hurst’s HB 1457 would allow hiring managers to frankly discuss job candidates with their current or former employers. If the law had been on the books beforehand, Flanagan may have never been hired at WDBJ, Hurst has argued.
“I’ve been talking to a lot of hiring managers in the years since Adam and Alison were killed and they’ll tell you that they are afraid to talk about anything else other than dates of employment for fear of being sued,” Hurst said.
U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte introduced similar legislation in Congress in the wake of the shooting, but his bill never became law.
A gun violence prevention advocate, Hurst has said he does not blame firearms for his girlfriend’s death. Stricter gun laws would not have prevented her death because Flanagan obtained his weapon legally, Hurst has said.
The freshman lawmaker has not introduced any gun reform legislation.