During its 2026 regular session, the Virginia General Assembly passed a bill that will prohibit employers from requesting prospective employees’ wage or salary history and require employers to disclose a job’s wage range in job postings. The law takes effect on July 1, 2026.
Senate Bill 215 contains several sweeping reforms regarding pay transparency. The new law:
- prohibits employers from seeking the wage or salary history of a prospective employee;
- prohibits employers from relying on a prospective employee’s wage or salary history in hiring decisions;
- prohibits employers from refusing to interview, hire, employ, or promote — and from otherwise retaliating against — prospective or current employees who request information about a job’s wage or salary, or decline to share their wage or salary history; and
- requires employers to disclose in internal and public job postings the good-faith wage, salary or compensation range for any job, promotion, transfer or other employment opportunity.
The new law will also forbid employers from relying on the wage or salary history of a prospective employee to determine the prospective employee’s wages or salary. The bill provides an exception when prospective employees voluntarily disclose their wage or salary history. Under these circumstances, the employer can confirm the prospective employees’ wage or salary information and use this information to offer a higher wage or salary.
Current and prospective employees may bring civil lawsuits for violations of the statute and seek actual damages, as long as they do so within one year of the alleged violation. The Virginia attorney general may bring a civil action against employers who violate the law and seek civil penalties of up to $1,000 for the first violation and up to $5,000 for each subsequent violation.
The new law includes a safe-harbor provision for job-posting violations. If an employer corrects a job posting within 15 days of receiving notice that the posting violates the law, the employer will avoid liability.
For further information or questions about the new law or other questions regarding Virginia employment laws, contact the authors, your McGuireWoods contact, or a member of the firm’s Employment Litigation Practice Group.