Virginia Pay Transparency Law 2026: What Employers Must Do

Does Virginia require salary ranges in job postings? Yes. As of July 1, 2026, Virginia employers must include the wage, salary, or a wage or salary range in every public and internal posting for a job, promotion, transfer, or other employment opportunity. Virginia also bars employers from asking applicants about their salary history.

If your careers page, your applicant tracking templates, or your internal promotion announcements have not been updated yet, here is what changed and what to fix first.

What the new law says

Section 40.1-28.7:12 of the Virginia Code prohibits six things. In plain English, an employer may not:

The statute defines a wage or salary range as the minimum and maximum pay for the position, set in good faith by reference to an applicable pay scale, a previously determined range for the role, what people currently holding equivalent positions actually earn, or the amount budgeted for the position. Good faith here means the range reflects what the employer honestly expects to pay. A token spread wide enough to fit nearly any salary is exactly the kind of posting the breadth language is aimed at.

There is one carve-out. If an applicant volunteers their pay history without any prompting, the employer may rely on it or verify it only to support paying more than the initial offer, and only if the higher pay does not create an unlawful pay gap under Virginia's equal pay statute (§ 40.1-28.6, which requires equal pay for equal work regardless of sex) or federal law. Volunteered history can raise an offer. It can never lower one.

What Virginia employers should do now

The law is in effect today, so this is a this-week project, not a someday project. Two coverage notes first: the statute contains no employee-count threshold. Many employment laws only apply above a certain headcount, but this section applies to employers without setting any minimum size (Virginia's labor code defines an employer as anyone doing business in the Commonwealth who employs another person for wages), so a five-person shop and a five-thousand-person company face the same posting rules. And the rule reaches internal postings, not just public ones.

Here is the compliant job posting checklist:

The penalties are real but not ruinous if you fix problems fast. The Virginia Attorney General can bring a civil action, with a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for a first violation and up to $5,000 for each subsequent violation. Applicants and employees can also sue within one year of a violation for actual damages plus whatever other relief the court finds appropriate.

Where Virginia fits in the pay transparency wave

No federal statute requires pay ranges in job postings, so this is a state-by-state story. Law firm Ogletree Deakins counts approximately twenty-five other state or local jurisdictions with pay transparency requirements and notes that Virginia is the first Southern state to enact one. The differences between states are real. Some cover only larger employers, some require the range in the posting itself, and some only require disclosure when an applicant asks or receives an offer. HRCC's state law cards for Colorado, Illinois, Hawaii, and Connecticut track each state's specific rule and threshold.

Against that backdrop, Virginia's version is on the stricter end in two ways: there is no headcount threshold, and internal postings for promotions and transfers count, not just public job ads. Enforcement is also broader than in most states. Instead of leaving everything to a state agency, Virginia lets applicants and employees sue directly, a combination Ogletree Deakins notes puts Virginia in rare company alongside Washington.

For Virginia employers, this lands on top of obligations HRCC already covers on its Virginia page, including the state minimum wage of $12.77 per hour for 2026 and Virginia's wage payment and final pay rules. One open question the statute does not answer is how the posting rule applies to remote roles advertised across state lines. DOLI has said additional compliance guidance and resources are coming, so multi-state employers should watch for that. If a posting decision turns on facts like where a remote hire will actually work, that is a reasonable moment to ask an employment attorney how the statute applies to your situation.

Quick answers

Take action

This week: audit postings, document how each range was set, remove salary history questions from every form and script, and brief everyone who interviews. This is educational guidance, not legal advice, and details like multi-state remote postings can change the answer, so for situation-specific questions consider asking an employment attorney how the statute applies to your workplace.

What HRCC does about this

HRCC's Compliance Wizard lets you look up hiring and pay rules state by state, with thresholds and risk flags, so changes like Virginia's show up where you already do your compliance homework. Try it free for 14 days.

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