Labor & Employment

Labor and employment; payment of wages. Provides that for purposes of requirements under existing law related to the payment of wages by employers, "wages" means all remuneration paid, or that should have been paid, for personal services, including salaries, commissions, bonuses, tips, back pay, dismissal pay, severance pay, and any other payments made by an employer to an employee during his employment and thereafter, and the cash value of all remuneration payable in any medium other than cash. The bill is intended to reverse Groundworks Operations, LLC v. Campbell, No. 241092 (Va. Dec. 30, 2025).

Prohibiting employer seeking wage or salary history of prospective employees; wage or salary range transparency; cause of action. Prohibits a prospective employer from (i) seeking the wage or salary history of a prospective employee; (ii) relying on the wage or salary history of a prospective employee in considering the prospective employee for employment; (iii) relying on the wage or salary history of a prospective employee in determining the wages or salary the prospective employee is to be paid upon hire; (iv) refusing to interview, hire, employ, or promote or otherwise retaliating against a prospective or current employee for not providing wage or salary history or requesting a wage or salary range; (v) failing or refusing to disclose in each public and internal posting for each job, promotion, transfer, or other employment opportunity the wage, salary, or wage or salary range; and (vi) failing to set a wage or salary range in good faith. The bill establishes a cause of action for an aggrieved prospective employee or employee and provides that an employer that violates such prohibitions is liable to the aggrieved prospective employee or employee for statutory damages between $1,000 and $10,000 or actual damages, whichever is greater, reasonable attorney fees and costs, and any other legal and equitable relief as may be appropriate. This bill is identical to HB 636.

Department of Health; Department of Corrections; peer recovery specialists. Directs the Virginia Department of Health and the Virginia Department of Corrections to develop agency guidelines for hiring peer recovery specialists with previous criminal convictions for compensated employment. As introduced, this bill was a recommendation of the Joint Commission on Health Care. This bill is identical to HB 209.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; additional public works contract requirements. Provides that public bodies shall require the contractor and its subcontractors for any capital outlay project, as defined in the bill, to complete certain safety training programs, maintain records of compliance with applicable laws, and participate in approved apprenticeship training programs. The bill provides exemptions from such requirements for reasons related to lack of availability of apprentices and high costs. The provisions of the bill do not apply to transportation-related construction projects. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027.

Authority of local governments; service employees. Permits a locality to provide for certain requirements concerning successor service employers, defined in the bill, by local ordinance or resolution. For example, such local ordinance or resolution may require that successor service employers retain incumbent service employees during a transition period of 90 days. Under the bill, service employees are those who perform work in connection with the care or maintenance of property, services at an airport, or food preparation services at schools. The bill provides that an employer that violates the provisions of a local ordinance or resolution enacted pursuant to the bill may be subject to a civil action and monetary damages. This bill is identical to HB 338.

Protection of employees; standards for heat illness prevention; Safety and Health Codes Board. Requires the Safety and Health Codes Board (the Board) to adopt regulations designed to protect workers from heat illness, as defined in the bill, during indoor and outdoor work. The bill provides that such regulations shall be enforced by the Board's existing authority. The bill directs the Board, in consultation with the Department of Labor and Industry, to develop and adopt regulations that require employers to implement heat illness prevention plans and to convene an advisory panel to assist in developing such regulations. This bill is identical to HB 1092.

Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Adult and Dislocated Worker funds; minimum allocation requirement waived. Authorizes the Department of Workforce Development and Advancement to waive the 40 percent allocation requirement of certain funding under the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 for a local workforce development board that submits a request for a waiver and demonstrates that the board is unable to meet the requirement due to (i) a lack of available training providers in the local workforce development area, (ii) a lack of demand for training services among eligible participants, or (iii) other extraordinary circumstances. The bill requires the Department to develop and publish a process for the application and approval of such waivers.

Line of Duty Act; payments to beneficiaries. Provides that if a deceased person, as that term is defined in the Line of Duty Act, died as a result of certain cancers within 10 years from his date of retirement, his beneficiary shall be entitled to the payment of certain benefits. Under current law, such beneficiary shall be entitled to such payment if the deceased person's death (i) arose out of and in the course of his employment or (ii) was within five years from his date of retirement.

Military leaves of absence for employees of the Commonwealth or political subdivisions; law-enforcement officers. Provides that any person who is employed by the Commonwealth or a political subdivision of the Commonwealth as a law-enforcement officer shall receive paid leaves of absence for up to 388 hours for which a leave of absence is required, during which such person is engaged in federally funded military duty, to include training duty, or is called forth by the Governor for military duty.

Workers' compensation. Provides that, for the purposes of workers' compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder incurred by a law-enforcement officer or firefighter, an incident or exposure without any accompanying physical injury occurring in the line of duty on or after January 1, 2027, is a qualifying event, as defined in the bill. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027.