Va. Code § 40.1-2
As used in this title, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the following terms have the following meanings:
"Board" means the Safety and Health Codes Board.
"Business establishment" means any proprietorship, firm or corporation where people are employed, permitted or suffered to work, including agricultural employment on a farm.
"Commission" means the Safety and Health Codes Board.
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Labor and Industry. Except where the context clearly indicates the contrary, any reference to "Commissioner" shall include his authorized representatives.
"Department" means the Department of Labor and Industry.
"Domestic service" means services related to the care of an individual in a private home or the maintenance of a private home or its premises, on a permanent or temporary basis, including services performed by individuals such as companions, cooks, waiters, butlers, maids, valets, and chauffeurs. "Domestic service" does not include work that is irregular, uncertain, or incidental in nature and duration.
"Employ" shall include to permit or suffer to work.
"Employee" means any person who, in consideration of wages, salaries or commissions, may be permitted, required or directed by any employer to engage in any employment directly or indirectly.
"Employer" means an individual, partnership, association, corporation, legal representative, receiver, trustee, or trustee in bankruptcy doing business in or operating within this Commonwealth who employs another to work for wages, salaries, or on commission and shall include any similar entity acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee.
"Female" or "woman" means a female 18 years of age or over.
"Machinery" means machines, belts, pulleys, motors, engines, gears, vats, pits, elevators, conveyors, shafts, tunnels, including machinery being operated on farms in connection with the production or harvesting of agricultural products.
Va. Code § 40.1-2