Virginia HR Compliance Guide for Employers

This guide walks you through what Virginia employment law requires of you, from the first job posting to the final paycheck, so you can see which duties apply to your business and which changed in 2026. On paper, Virginia sits in the middle of the national spectrum: it is an at-will, right-to-work state with no local payroll taxes and a modest graduated income tax.

Starting in 2020, though, the General Assembly enacted a run of reforms that changed the compliance picture for every employer in the Commonwealth: new protected classes, private sector whistleblower protection, and a non-compete ban that has since been widened twice.

The 2026 session pushed harder than any year since. Pay ranges became mandatory in job postings, the Virginia Human Rights Act (VHRA) dropped to a five-employee threshold, non-competes fell away for health care professionals and for anyone discharged without severance, and the state enacted both paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave on dated phase-ins.

Employers relocating from the South or Midwest will find Virginia more protective than expected; those from California or New York will still find it straightforward. The complexity now sits in three places: the July 2026 wave of new duties, the layered non-compete restrictions, and the cross-border obligations for staff who physically work in Washington DC. FirstHR exists to make exactly this kind of layered compliance survivable without a dedicated HR team.

Virginia Employment Law at a Glance

Virginia is an at-will state, and its employment law rests on the common-law at-will doctrine, a judge-made rule that no statute codifies. Va. Code section 40.1-28.7:1 is sometimes cited as the at-will statute, but that section actually prohibits requiring genetic testing as a condition of employment.

Three exceptions override an at-will termination. The public policy exception protects employees fired for refusing to break the law or for exercising a statutory right. The implied contract exception bites when a handbook creates a reasonable expectation of continued employment. And the anti-retaliation provisions of the VHRA and the private sector whistleblower statute operate independently of both.

Virginia has been a right-to-work state since 1947 under Va. Code sections 40.1-58 through 40.1-69, so union membership cannot be required as a condition of employment. Virginia also operates under the Dillon Rule, which bars local governments from exercising powers the General Assembly has not explicitly granted them.

That rule is the reason Virginia compliance stays manageable: no city or county can impose its own higher minimum wage, paid sick leave mandate, or benefit requirements on private employers, so you track one set of rules statewide. The exception that matters is staff who physically work in Washington DC.

Employment Law Fundamentals

Worker Classification Under Va. Code Section 40.1-28.7:7

Since July 1, 2020, Virginia presumes a worker is an employee when services are performed for remuneration. The burden of proving independent contractor status falls on the employer, measured against the IRS common-law factors: behavioral control, financial control, and the type of relationship.

The exposure compounds because three agencies share the file. A single misclassification complaint can trigger simultaneous investigation by the Department of Taxation, the Virginia Employment Commission, and the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission, each applying its own remedy to the same set of workers.

Va. Code section 58.1-1901 sets the civil penalty at up to $1,000 per misclassified individual for a first offense, up to $2,500 for a second, and up to $5,000 for a third or subsequent offense, on top of the back taxes owed. Section 58.1-1902 adds debarment from public contracts.

The Virginia Values Act Rebuilt the Human Rights Act

Before July 1, 2020, the Virginia Human Rights Act was a narrow law with limited enforcement tools. The Virginia Values Act (SB 868) turned it into one of the more comprehensive state anti-discrimination laws in the country, and every threshold and remedy discussed later in this guide descends from it.

The changes were structural rather than cosmetic. Sexual orientation, gender identity, and veteran status joined the protected classes. The scope widened from termination alone to all terms and conditions of employment. The 12-month backpay cap came out, punitive damages became available, and employees gained a private right of action in state court. The Attorney General also gained authority to bring enforcement actions.

No State WARN Act

Virginia has no state version of the WARN Act. Only the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act applies, requiring 60 days of advance notice for plant closings or mass layoffs at employers with 100 or more full-time employees. A small business rarely comes near that headcount, so federal WARN is unlikely to apply in practice.

Hiring and Onboarding in Virginia

Hiring in Virginia takes the two federal forms every employer collects plus six state items: the state withholding certificate, the new hire report, the pregnancy and disability accommodation notices, the non-compete posting, and a pay range in every job posting. The checklist below gives each one's deadline and who it applies to.

Background Checks and the Clean Slate Law

Virginia has no statewide ban-the-box law for private employers, so a private employer may still ask about criminal history on an application. Va. Code sections 2.2-2812.1 and 15.2-1505.3 (both effective July 1, 2020) reach only state agencies and localities, keeping criminal history questions off their own application forms.

The sealing regime is the real limit, and it took effect July 1, 2026. The Virginia Clean Slate Law (Va. Code section 19.2-392.5 et seq.) seals certain criminal records automatically after a waiting period. The Virginia State Police had until October 1, 2026 to transmit the first list of convictions eligible for automatic sealing, a list that includes misdemeanor petit larceny, concealment, trespass, and disorderly conduct offenses.

Once a record is sealed, your application form is the exposure. Va. Code section 19.2-392.15 bars an employer from requiring an applicant to disclose a sealed arrest, charge, or conviction in any application, interview, or otherwise, and makes each willful violation a Class 1 misdemeanor.

An applicant may answer criminal history questions without referring to sealed matter. The same chapter also absorbed the old marijuana-possession inquiry ban, which was repealed as a standalone section on July 1, 2026.

Sealing also puts a live task on your vendor. If your background check provider has not refreshed its Virginia procedures, it can still hand you sealed record information that you are prohibited from considering, and the fact that the vendor supplied it is no defense.

Drug Testing, Pay Transparency, and Salary History

Virginia has no state statute restricting employer drug testing beyond the standard federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) process, and nothing equivalent to the cannabis testing limits California and Washington impose. Va. Code section 40.1-27.4 does bar discharging, disciplining, or discriminating against an employee for the lawful use of cannabis oil under a valid medical certification.

The exceptions to that protection are narrower than employers assume. You may still act on impairment at work or possession during work hours, you may act where compliance would break federal law or cost a federal contract or funding, and a defense industrial base employer may reject a positive THC test above the thresholds the statute names. Law enforcement officers sit outside the protection altogether.

Virginia now has a full pay transparency requirement. Under Va. Code section 40.1-28.7:12, effective July 1, 2026, every public and internal posting for a job, promotion, transfer, or other employment opportunity must disclose the wage, salary, or wage or salary range. There is no headcount threshold: the smallest shop posting its first opening is covered exactly as a large enterprise is.

The same section bans salary history. An employer may not seek an applicant's prior wage from the applicant, a former employer, or a third-party service, and may not rely on it in considering the applicant. Where the applicant volunteers the figure, the employer may confirm it only to support a higher offer than it first made.

Enforcement runs on two tracks. The Attorney General may seek a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for a first violation and up to $5,000 for each subsequent one, and an applicant or employee may sue within one year for actual damages and other relief.

A posting violation gets a cure window first: after written notice, the employer has 15 business days to correct the posting before a private action can proceed. Separately, Va. Code section 40.1-28.7:9 still protects employees who discuss their wages with coworkers.

Wages, Overtime, and Pay Rules

Virginia Minimum Wage and the Schedule Written Into the Code

The Virginia minimum wage is $13.75 per hour, effective January 1, 2027, and $15.00 per hour, effective January 1, 2028. The 2020 legislation had set a path to $15 but made the steps above $12.00 conditional on reenactment. Governor Youngkin vetoed the reenactment in 2024, so annual CPI-U inflation indexing set the 2025 and 2026 rates instead.

The 2026 session put the schedule back. Va. Code section 40.1-28.10 now names $13.75 for calendar 2027 and $15.00 for calendar 2028, with the Commissioner resuming annual CPI-U adjustments from October 1, 2028 for the 2029 rate. Budget the 2027 step now; it is a 7.7 percent jump on the 2026 rate of $12.77.

There is no small business exemption. The Minimum Wage Act does exclude some workers, among them anyone under 16 and full-time students under 18 working no more than 20 hours a week. It also allows a training wage of 75 percent of the Virginia minimum for approved on-the-job training programs lasting up to 90 days.

The federal tipped cash wage of $2.13 an hour applies, but cash plus tips must reach the Virginia minimum in every workweek. Va. Code section 40.1-28.9 treats a worker as tipped once they customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips, and the employer sets the amount of tips it credits.

Rates move each January, and no Virginia city or county sets a rate of its own. The Virginia minimum wage page carries the current rate, the scheduled increases, and the tipped and training wage rules.

Virginia Overtime Wage Act: State Enforcement of Federal Standards

The Virginia Overtime Wage Act (VOWA, Va. Code section 40.1-29.2) was enacted in 2021 as a standalone overtime law and substantially rewritten in July 2022. Today it sets no overtime rules of its own beyond the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and there is no Virginia daily overtime requirement.

VOWA now works as a state-court enforcement tool for FLSA overtime violations, so every definition, exemption, and calculation comes from the federal law. What it changes is the forum and the price.

Virginia workers can pursue FLSA overtime claims in state court, where the remedies of Va. Code section 40.1-29 apply: liquidated damages, 8 percent annual interest, triple the wages due for a knowing violation, and attorney fees. There is no headcount threshold, so a small shop is as exposed as a national employer.

Virginia Wage Payment Act: Pay Stubs, Frequency, and Final Pay

The Virginia Wage Payment Act (VWPA, Va. Code section 40.1-29) sets the core wage payment rules, starting with how often you pay. Salaried employees must be paid at least once per month; hourly employees at least twice per month or every two weeks.

Pay stubs are required at every payment and must include the employer's name and address, hours worked for hourly staff, pay rate, gross pay, and the amount and purpose of every deduction. Deductions beyond taxes require a written signed authorization from the employee.

Final paychecks are due on or before the day the employee would have been paid had the job continued, whichever way the separation happened (Va. Code section 40.1-29).

The remedy ladder is steep. Late or unpaid wages cost the wages themselves plus an equal amount in liquidated damages plus 8 percent annual interest, and triple the wages due for a knowing violation, with attorney fees on top. Willful non-payment under $10,000 is a Class 1 misdemeanor; $10,000 or more, or a second conviction, is a Class 6 felony.

HB 238 rewrote the enforcement machinery effective July 1, 2026. One three-year limitations period, the deadline for bringing a claim, now covers minimum wage, overtime, misclassification, and wage payment claims alike.

The same law lets the Attorney General bring an action on referral from the Commissioner, and it requires pay records to be kept three years. An employer that cures (fixes) the violation within 14 days of notice has a good faith defense.

Construction carries a separate rule, which HB 238 also rewrote. Under Va. Code section 11-4.6, on subcontracts entered from July 1, 2026, the general contractor is jointly and severally liable for a subcontractor's unpaid wages if it knew or should have known of the failure, the project is not single-family residential, and the project value exceeds $500,000.

Virginia has an equal pay statute (Va. Code section 40.1-28.6, enacted 1974), but it covers only sex-based pay differences and expressly does not apply to employers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, which is most of them. In practice, employees rely on the federal Equal Pay Act and Title VII for pay equity claims, and now on the salary history ban in Va. Code section 40.1-28.7:12.

Virginia has no meal or rest break requirements for employees 16 years of age or older. Minors under 16 must receive a 30-minute break after 5 consecutive hours of work. The Virginia Pregnant Workers Fairness Act separately requires breaks to express breast milk and a private non-bathroom space to do it in, and the federal PUMP Act supplies the one-year window that runs from the child's birth.

Leave and Time Off

Virginia has mandated little leave for private employers, and that is changing on a published timetable rather than all at once. Read the table above as a calendar, not a snapshot.

Organ and bone marrow donation leave (Va. Code sections 40.1-33.7 through 40.1-33.12, since July 2023) is the least-known of the current requirements. Employers with 50 or more employees provide up to 60 unpaid working days a year for organ donation and up to 30 for bone marrow donation, with job and health insurance protection, for employees with 12 months of tenure and 1,250 hours worked.

Statewide paid sick leave is the change to plan for. SB 199 and HB 5 added Va. Code section 40.1-33.6:1, which reaches employers with 50 or more employees on July 1, 2027, employers with 25 or more on January 1, 2028, and every employer on January 1, 2029. Accrual is one hour for every 30 hours worked, capped at 40 hours a year, and unused hours carry forward.

The permitted uses are broader than the name suggests. Va. Code section 40.1-33.6:3 covers the employee's own mental or physical illness, care of a family member, and absences arising from domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. Documentation may be required only for absences of three or more consecutive workdays, and for a safety-related absence the employee's own written statement counts as documentation.

The crime victim leave statute (Va. Code section 40.1-28.7:2) allows employees who are victims of crime (including domestic violence) to take reasonable unpaid time off to attend court proceedings related to the crime. It applies to every employer, with no size threshold and no mandated duration, and it protects employees against retaliation. Virginia has no voting leave law and no bereavement leave mandate.

FMLA in Virginia and the Coming State Paid Leave Program

Virginia has no family and medical leave act of its own, so job-protected family leave in the state comes from the federal FMLA. It reaches a worksite only where the employer has 50 or more employees within 75 miles, and an employee qualifies after 12 months of service plus 1,250 hours worked in the preceding year. The entitlement is 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave.

That baseline is about to change. The General Assembly accepted Governor Spanberger's amendments to HB 1207 and SB 2 on April 22, 2026, creating a state-administered paid family and medical leave insurance program of up to 12 weeks a year, run by the Virginia Employment Commission. Payroll contributions from employers and employees begin April 1, 2028, and benefits become payable December 1, 2028.

The benefit is 80 percent of the employee's average weekly earnings, capped against the statewide average. Employers and employees split the contribution evenly, and an employer with 10 or fewer employees owes no employer share at all but still withholds and remits the employee half. The Commission publishes the actual contribution rate by October 1, 2027.

Two points matter for a small Virginia employer. The program reaches businesses far below the 50-employee FMLA threshold, so a company that has never administered family leave will be inside it. And nothing is owed before the 2028 contribution date, which leaves room to budget the premium and write the leave policy in advance.

Anti-Discrimination: VHRA and the Virginia Values Act

The Virginia Human Rights Act reaches an employer at five employees. Va. Code section 2.2-3905 now defines an employer as a person employing five or more employees for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, or one or more domestic workers.

The five-employee definition took effect July 1, 2026. It replaced the old tiered model, which gave full coverage only at 15 employees and dropped to a discharge-only claim below that.

The change matters most to businesses in the five-to-fourteen range. A ten-person employer that previously faced only a wrongful discharge claim is now exposed on hiring, pay, promotion, scheduling, and discipline, across every protected class, with the full remedy set behind it.

The protected classes the statute names are race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, pregnancy and childbirth or related medical conditions including lactation, age, military status, disability, and ethnic or national origin.

Race includes hair texture, hair type, and protective hairstyles under the CROWN Act, and ethnic origin became a standalone class on July 1, 2024. Pregnancy is covered under both the VHRA and the separate Virginia Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.

Discrimination complaints go to the Office of Civil Rights within the Attorney General's Office, not to the Department of Labor and Industry (DOLI). Va. Code section 2.2-3907 gives the complainant two years from the day the practice occurred, up from 300 days before July 1, 2026. Filing with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) at the same time is permitted under a worksharing agreement.

Once 180 days have passed, the Office issues a notice of the right to sue, the letter that clears the way to court, on the complainant's written request. The employee then has 90 days to file in a general district or circuit court with jurisdiction over the accused employer.

The remedy set is what the Virginia Values Act built. Under Va. Code section 2.2-3908, a court or jury may award compensatory and punitive damages, and the court may add reasonable attorney fees and costs, injunctions, and any other affirmative action it finds appropriate. Punitive damages are capped at $350,000 by Va. Code section 8.01-38.1. The Attorney General may also bring enforcement actions.

Virginia Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

The PWFA (Va. Code section 2.2-3909, effective July 1, 2020) requires employers with five or more employees to provide reasonable accommodations for employees who are pregnant, have given birth, or have related medical conditions, lactation included.

The statute names its own accommodations rather than leaving them to argument: more frequent or longer bathroom breaks, breaks to express breast milk, access to a private location other than a bathroom for that purpose, acquisition or modification of equipment or of employee seating, temporary transfer to a less strenuous or less hazardous position, assistance with manual labor, job restructuring, a modified work schedule, light duty assignments, and leave to recover from childbirth.

One difference from analysis under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is worth naming. Virginia's PWFA does not require the employee to be disabled before an accommodation is owed, though it still requires a timely, good faith interactive process with any employee who asks for one.

CROWN Act, Harassment Training, and Whistleblower Protections

The VHRA also reads race broadly. Virginia enacted its CROWN Act in March 2020 (SB 50/HB 1514, Va. Code section 2.2-3901(D), effective July 1, 2020). It clarifies that racial discrimination under the VHRA includes discrimination based on traits historically associated with race, such as hair texture, hair type, and protective hairstyles like braids, locks, and twists.

Virginia does not require most private employers to run harassment training: the statutory training mandate in section 30-129.4 reaches only the legislative branch. Run it anyway. It is the cheapest evidence you have that you took reasonable care to prevent and correct harassment.

State contractors are the exception. Under Va. Code section 2.2-4201, every government contract over $10,000 obliges a contractor with more than five employees to train its supervisors and employees working in Virginia on its sexual harassment policy each year, and to post that policy and include it in the employee handbook.

The private sector whistleblower statute (Va. Code section 40.1-27.3, effective July 1, 2020) protects employees who report violations of state or federal law, participate in investigations, or refuse to participate in criminal activity. It covers every employer with no size threshold, and an employee has 1 year to bring a direct civil action for reinstatement and back pay.

Safety-related complaints have a second route. The Virginia Occupational Safety and Health (VOSH) whistleblower statute (Va. Code sections 40.1-51.2:1 and 40.1-51.2:2) may also cover them, with a 60-day deadline to file with DOLI.

Workplace Safety: VOSH and Workers Compensation

Virginia operates an approved OSHA State Plan (VOSH), which received final federal approval on November 30, 1988. VOSH covers most private sector workers plus all state and local government workers, which is broader than federal OSHA reaches. DOLI's Division of Occupational Safety and Health administers the program.

Virginia generally adopts federal OSHA standards verbatim but keeps several unique state standards that run stricter: reverse signal operation, confined space entry in telecommunications, tree trimming, and compliance with the manufacturer's instructions for equipment. The permanent COVID-19 standard (16VAC25-220) was repealed effective March 23, 2022 and left no residual requirements behind it.

One more standard is on the way. The 2026 session added Va. Code section 40.1-44.2, directing the Safety and Health Codes Board to adopt a heat illness prevention standard by May 1, 2028 covering both indoor and outdoor work: drinking water, shade or climate-controlled areas, rest breaks, acclimatization, training, and emergency response. Nothing is enforceable until the Board adopts the rule, so this is a watch item rather than a task.

Serious incidents carry short reporting deadlines: 8 hours for a fatality, and 24 hours for an in-patient hospitalization, an amputation, or the loss of an eye. VOSH penalty maximums rise each August 1 in any year the CPI-U rises; the figures below took effect August 1, 2026:

The Virginia workers compensation page has the detail: the headcount at which coverage becomes mandatory, who is excluded, where to buy the policy, the injury reporting deadlines, and what going without coverage costs.

Workers compensation is mandatory once an employer regularly has three or more employees in service in Virginia, since Va. Code section 65.2-101 exempts only businesses with fewer than three. Part-time, seasonal, and temporary workers count. Corporate officers count toward the threshold but may elect to be excluded from coverage. Virginia is a competitive-market state: policies come from private insurers, not a state fund.

Benefits run at 66 and two-thirds percent of the average weekly wage for temporary total disability, up to 500 weeks, with permanent total disability covered for life.

Injury reporting runs on tight deadlines. The employer or its insurer reports an injury to the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission within 10 days after the injury occurs and the employer learns of it. The employee, in turn, must notify the employer within 30 days and file a claim within 2 years.

Going without coverage is expensive. Penalties reach $250 per day to a maximum of $50,000, plus personal liability for every medical cost and benefit the insurer would have paid. Every covered employer displays the VWC Form 1 notice; the details sit at workcomp.virginia.gov.

Criminal exposure sits on top of the civil penalty. A knowing and intentional failure to insure is a Class 2 misdemeanor under Va. Code section 65.2-806, punishable by up to 6 months in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.

Payroll and Tax Compliance

Virginia Income Tax: Graduated Brackets

Virginia's standard deduction is $8,750 for single filers and $17,500 for married filing jointly. It rises to $9,200 and $18,400 for taxable year 2027, and to $9,300 and $18,600 for taxable years 2028 and 2029 (Va. Code section 58.1-322.03). The refundable Virginia Earned Income Tax Credit sits at 20 percent of the federal EITC and now runs through taxable year 2029.

Virginia has reciprocity agreements with DC, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. Under 23VAC10-140-230, you withhold no Virginia tax from a resident of Kentucky, Maryland, West Virginia, or DC who commutes to the Virginia job daily and gives you Form VA-3, the Certificate of Nonresidence.

Pennsylvania works on a separate agreement that runs both ways. Pennsylvania residents earning wages in Virginia, and Virginia residents earning wages in Pennsylvania, owe income tax only to their home state once they file a certificate of nonresidence with the employer.

Register for Virginia income tax withholding through Virginia Tax. Three forms carry the workload: VA-4 from the employee at hire, VA-6 as the annual reconciliation due January 31, and the W-2s filed electronically alongside it.

Unemployment Insurance and Full Payroll Summary

Virginia's UI taxable wage base is $8,000, among the lowest in the country, which caps the exposure for most employers. According to the U.S. Department of Labor's summary of state UI laws (July 2026), a new employer pays a base rate of 2.5 percent plus any add-ons, and experienced rates run from 0.1 percent to 6.2 percent on claims history.

Register with the Virginia Employment Commission. Quarterly wage reports are due the last day of the month after each quarter closes. Virginia has no local income or payroll tax anywhere in the state, courtesy of the Dillon Rule, which is a real simplification next to Pennsylvania or Ohio.

Employee Privacy and Data Protection

Virginia is a one-party consent state for recording communications. Va. Code section 19.2-62 makes it no offense to intercept a wire, electronic, or oral communication where the interceptor is a party to it or one party has given prior consent. Intercepting outside that exception is a Class 6 felony.

The civil exposure is the part employers underestimate. Va. Code section 19.2-69 gives the intercepted person actual damages, but never less than liquidated damages of $400 a day for each day of violation or $4,000, whichever is higher. That floor rises to $800 a day or $8,000 where the communication was privileged, and punitive damages and attorney fees come on top of either.

Record conversations you are part of; never record employees talking to each other. A written monitoring policy in the handbook is the practical control here. It sets the expectation before anyone reaches for a recorder, and it gives you something to point to when an employee claims a call or a meeting was taped without consent.

The Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA, Va. Code section 59.1-575 et seq., approved March 2, 2021 and effective January 1, 2023) is Virginia's comprehensive consumer privacy law, and it leaves employee data outside its reach permanently.

The exclusion is in the definition rather than in a sunset clause. The statute defines a consumer as a Virginia resident "acting only in an individual or household context" and says the term "does not include a natural person acting in a commercial or employment context". The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), by contrast, had only a temporary employment carve-out, and it expired at the end of 2022.

The coverage test has two limbs, and legacy write-ups routinely drop the second. Va. Code section 59.1-576 reaches a business that controls or processes the personal data of at least 100,000 Virginia consumers in a calendar year, or of at least 25,000 consumers where it also derives more than half its gross revenue from selling personal data.

Only the Attorney General enforces the VCDPA, with a $7,500 maximum penalty per violation and a 30-day period to cure (fix) a violation.

Data breach notification sits in Va. Code section 18.2-186.6. Notice to affected individuals goes out without unreasonable delay, with no fixed day count, and the Attorney General must be notified of any breach affecting Virginia residents, not only breaches above 1,000 people. The civil penalty reaches $150,000 per breach.

Larger breaches add a step. Once notice goes to more than 1,000 persons at one time, the consumer reporting agencies get notice too, along with the timing and distribution details.

Two more employee-facing rules round out the section. Va. Code section 40.1-28.7:5, in force since July 1, 2015, bars an employer from requiring an employee or applicant to hand over login credentials for a personal social media account or to add the employer as a contact. The exception is a formal investigation of workplace misconduct.

Personnel records carry a hard deadline. Va. Code section 8.01-413.1 gives current and former employees a copy of their employment records within 30 days of a written request: dates of employment, wages, job title and description, and any injuries sustained on the job. One 30-day extension is available if you notify the requester in writing, and a reasonable copying fee is permitted.

Termination, Non-Competes, and Separation

Virginia Non-Compete Law After Three Rounds of Expansion

Virginia's non-compete ban (Va. Code section 40.1-28.7:8) began in 2020 as a rule about "low-wage employees" defined purely by earnings. It has been widened twice since, and what is left enforceable is now a narrow band.

SB 1218, effective July 1, 2025, brought in every employee who is non-exempt under the FLSA, whatever they earn, alongside the earnings test that voids a covenant with anyone averaging less than $1,507.01 a week. That figure is the Commonwealth's average weekly wage, republished by DOLI each January.

The 2026 session added two more limbs, both effective July 1, 2026. SB 128 and HB 627 ban non-competes outright for health care professionals licensed, registered, or certified by the Boards of Medicine, Nursing, Counseling, Optometry, Psychology, or Social Work.

SB 170 makes any non-compete unenforceable against an employee discharged without cause who receives no severance or other monetary payment, and whatever severance you intend to pay must be disclosed in the agreement when it is signed.

Clinical practices keep three narrower tools. The first is a patient non-solicitation clause: a health care professional may still be held to one covering patients with whom they had material contact, though the clause may not stop them telling patients that they are still practicing, where to find them, and that the patient chooses their own provider.

The statute also preserves the other two: a reasonable covenant tied to the sale of the professional's business, and repayment of recruitment costs such as relocation expenses and signing or retention bonuses where the professional leaves inside five years.

The remedies are layered. The civil penalty is $10,000 per violation, and the employee may sue within two years for lost compensation, liquidated damages, attorney fees, costs, and expert witness fees, with the court free to void the covenant.

The posting duty carries its own penalties. Every employer posts the statute or the DOLI-approved summary where other employee notices hang: a first posting failure draws a written warning, a second up to $250, and a third or later one up to $1,000.

Virginia Mini-COBRA

Virginia's mini-COBRA law (Va. Code section 38.2-3541) applies to group health policies that federal COBRA does not reach, which in practice means employers under 20 employees. Coverage continues for 12 months from the date eligibility ends, at the current group rate plus an administrative fee capped at 2 percent.

The clocks are short and they run off each other. The policyholder gives written notice within 14 days of learning of the qualifying event, and the employee then has 31 days from that notice to apply, subject to an outside limit of 60 days from the date coverage ended.

Employee References

Va. Code section 8.01-46.1 protects employers providing job references. An employer who, at the request of a prospective or current employer, shares information about a person's professional conduct, job performance, or reasons for separation is immune from civil liability unless it acted in bad faith.

Good faith is presumed. The presumption falls only on clear and convincing evidence that the employer disclosed the information knowing it was false, with reckless disregard for whether it was false, or with intent to deliberately mislead.

Employee Handbook Requirements

Virginia has two legally required handbook content items that many employers overlook: the written pregnancy accommodations policy and the written disability accommodations policy. Both must be in the handbook, not just posted. Both must be provided to employees at hire and again within 10 days of learning about a pregnancy or disability.

The at-will disclaimer needs careful attention in Virginia because of the implied contract exception. If your handbook describes a performance improvement process, lists specific reasons for termination, or uses language suggesting employment will continue absent specific cause, a court may find an implied contract.

The disclaimer should be conspicuous, appear on the first page, state explicitly that the handbook is not a contract, and reserve the right to modify policies without notice. Pair it with a signed acknowledgment page.

Northern Virginia and Local Compliance

The Dillon Rule prevents Virginia localities from enacting employment laws stricter than state law. No Virginia city or county can set a local minimum wage, require paid sick leave for private employers, or create employee benefit mandates beyond state standards. This simplifies compliance for employers operating across multiple Virginia locations.

Northern Virginia employers face a different layer instead. Employees who physically work in Washington DC are covered by DC employment law, not Virginia law, and the trigger is where the work happens rather than where the company is headquartered.

Four DC rules bite hardest. The DC minimum wage is $18.40 an hour, effective July 1, 2026, for every employer whatever its size, and accrued sick and safe leave runs up to 7 days a year at employers with 100 or more employees, 5 days at 25 to 99, and 3 days below that.

The other two are the payroll tax and the screening rule. The Universal Paid Leave contribution is 0.75 percent of covered wages, paid entirely by the employer with nothing withheld from workers, and the Fair Criminal Record Screening Act reaches employers with more than 10 employees in DC.

Within Virginia, local wage rules reach only public contracts. Va. Code section 2.2-4321.3 requires the prevailing wage on state public works contracts above $250,000 and lets any county, city, or town adopt the same rule by ordinance for its own projects. None of this binds private employers generally, and the local ban-the-box rules apply only to municipal hiring.

Required Workplace Postings

DOLI lists eight required state posters, one of them only for adult entertainment businesses and truck stops, and hosts them free at doli.virginia.gov/resources/required-posters, together with the required federal set.

Two of the state duties are not on that page, so employers miss them. The non-compete covenant notice under Va. Code section 40.1-28.7:8(G) is satisfied by posting the code section itself or a DOLI-approved summary, and the disability accommodations notice under Va. Code section 2.2-3905.1 is a standing obligation of any employer with more than five employees.

Virginia vs. Federal vs. California

Virginia sits between the two extremes and has been moving. It still asks less than California on paid leave and breaks, but it now reaches further than federal law on non-competes, on anti-discrimination coverage at five employees, on pay transparency, and on whistleblower rights.

The sharpest comparison is the non-compete: California bans them almost entirely, Virginia voids them for non-exempt workers, health care professionals, and low-wage earners, and federal law has no prohibition at all.

Key Legislative Changes Since the Virginia Values Act

Four items on that list deserve a calendar entry, not just a read. Pay ranges in every posting and the five-employee VHRA threshold are both live now, so a posting template and a handbook review are overdue rather than upcoming.

The statewide paid sick leave phase-in starts July 1, 2027 at 50 employees, and the paid family leave payroll contribution starts April 1, 2028, which gives you two budget cycles to price both.

On non-competes, pull every agreement you hold and check it against the new limits. Any agreement with an hourly worker, a salaried non-exempt employee, or a licensed clinician covered by the 2026 health care ban is void or unenforceable rather than merely risky. Agreements signed from July 1, 2026 also need a severance term written into them if you want the covenant to survive a discharge without cause.

Frequently Asked Questions