DOLI Timeline
| 1898 | The Virginia General Assembly creates the Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics to compile and circulate data " . . . on the pursuits of the State as they related to the commercial, industrial, social, educational, and sanitary condition of the laboring classes and to the permanent prosperity of the productive industries of the State." Archer P. Montague, a mechanical engineer, is named as first Commissioner of Labor. |
1912 |
The Division of Mines and Quarries is created and joins the Division of Factory Inspection as a unit within the Bureau. |
1914 |
Child labor under 14 yrs of age is prohibited in factories, workshops, mines, mercantile establishments, laundries, bakeries, brickyards and lumberyards during school hours or after 7:00 p.m. in the distribution, transmission or sale of merchandise. |
1922 |
The Division of Women and Children is created within the Bureau to enforce child labor laws, the 10-hour workday limit and regulate issues relating to the employment of women. |
1924 |
The name of the agency is changed to the Bureau of Labor and Industry by the General Assembly. |
1926 |
The Division of State Public Employment Service is created within the Bureau to help connect people seeking jobs and employers seeking workers. |
1927 |
The Bureau of Labor and Industry is renamed the Department of Labor and Industry by the General Assembly and given the status of a regular administrative agency of the Commonwealth. |
1930 |
The Division of Research and Statistics is formalized within the Department. |
1938 |
The General Assembly approves the Virginia Apprenticeship Act and the concurrently established Apprenticeship Council holds five meetings that year. The Division of Apprenticeship Training is established within the Department. |
1949 |
The Department organizes its first industrial safety campaign and promotes a system of voluntary safety committees to operate within private firms. |
1951 |
The Department establishes a new Division of Factory, Institution, and Mercantile Inspection and an Advisory Council on Industrial Safety. |