Virginia Paid Sick Leave: Who Earns It and When It Starts

The new requirement sits in Title 40.1 of the Code of Virginia, alongside the wage, hour, and workplace-protection rules covered in Virginia labor laws. It was added as Article 2.1:1, §§ 40.1-33.6:1 through 40.1-33.6:7 by 2026 Acts of Assembly chapters 1128 and 1129, and every section of the article is marked effective July 1, 2027. Before that date, most private-sector workers in Virginia have no state-law right to paid time off when they are sick.

When the requirement starts and who it reaches first

The statute phases in through the definition of “employer” rather than through separate effective dates. Under Va. Code § 40.1-33.6:1, “employer” means an employer of at least 50 employees beginning July 1, 2027; at least 25 employees beginning January 1, 2028; and at least one employee beginning January 1, 2029. A worker at a 12-person shop is therefore outside the law in 2027 and inside it in 2029, with no change in the underlying accrual rate.

The same definition pulls in public employers. Notwithstanding the usual public-employer exclusion in Va. Code § 40.1-2.1, “employer” includes the Commonwealth and its agencies, institutions, and political subdivisions, though the Virginia Retirement System provisions in Chapter 11 of Title 51.1 control where the two conflict.

Who counts as a covered employee

“Employee” carries the broad Title 40.1 meaning, with carve-outs listed in Va. Code § 40.1-33.6:4. Four groups sit outside the new article:

• Home health workers already covered by the 2021 law in Article 2.1 (§§ 40.1-33.3 through 40.1-33.6), which carries its own 40-hour entitlement at the same one-hour-per-30-hours rate
• Health professionals licensed, registered, or certified by a health regulatory board who work for a facility licensed by the Department of Health, or for the University of Virginia Medical Center or the VCU Health System Authority, and average no more than 30 hours per week
• Those same licensed health professionals when employed on a pro re nata (as-needed) basis, regardless of hours worked
• Railroad employers and employees as defined in 45 U.S.C. § 351

Part-time status alone is not a carve-out. Outside the health care exceptions, the statute sets no minimum weekly hours, so a worker averaging ten hours a week at a covered employer accrues on the same basis as a full-time colleague.

How the leave accrues, carries over, and follows a worker

Va. Code § 40.1-33.6:2 sets the mechanics. Accrual is one hour for every 30 hours worked, beginning at the commencement of employment. Unused leave carries over into the following year, but an employee cannot accrue or use more than 40 hours in a year unless the employer selects a higher limit. An employer that front-loads 40 hours at the start of the year satisfies the accrual requirement outright.

Because accrual tracks hours actually worked, the shape of a schedule matters, as it does under the unpaid meal and rest time rules described in Virginia break laws. Salaried workers exempt from overtime under 29 U.S.C. § 213(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act are assumed to work 40 hours each workweek, unless their normal workweek is shorter, in which case accrual runs on that shorter week. Workers paid on a fee-for-service basis accrue under regulations the Commissioner must adopt.

An existing paid time off policy can satisfy the law. An employer whose PTO policy provides enough paid leave, usable for the same purposes and under the same conditions, owes no additional paid sick leave. The same is true for employers bound by a bona fide collective bargaining agreement that meets the standard.

Three rules govern what happens when employment changes:

• Transfers. An employee moved to a different division, entity, or location of the same employer keeps all accrued leave.
• Rehire. An employee rehired by the same employer within 12 months of separation has unused accrued leave reinstated, unless the employer already paid it out. After 12 months, reinstatement is not required.
• Successor employers. A worker who stays on when a new employer takes the place of the old one keeps leave accrued with the original employer.

What paid sick leave can be used for

Va. Code § 40.1-33.6:3 lists three categories: an employee’s own mental or physical illness, injury, health condition, diagnosis, treatment, or preventive care; the same needs of a family member; and absence due to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking in order to seek medical care, mental health care, counseling, legal services, relocation or securing of a home, or other victim services for the employee or a family member.

“Family member” is defined broadly in § 40.1-33.6:1 and reaches well past the federal spouse-child-parent triangle. It covers children of any age, including stepchildren, foster children, legal wards, and children the employee stands in loco parentis to; parents, stepparents, adoptive parents, and legal guardians of the employee or the employee’s spouse; a spouse or domestic partner; grandparents, grandchildren, and siblings by blood, adoption, or marriage; anyone the employee is responsible for providing or arranging health or safety-related care for; and any other person related by blood or affinity whose close association is the equivalent of a family relationship.

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act remains separate and unpaid, providing eligible employees of covered employers up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period. Virginia’s paid sick leave is shorter, paid, and available without the FMLA’s 12-month and 1,250-hour eligibility thresholds.

Requesting leave, notice, and documentation

A request may be made orally, in writing, electronically, or by any other means acceptable to the employer, and when possible it includes the expected duration of the absence.

1. Give notice when the need is foreseeable

   For a scheduled appointment or planned procedure, the employee makes a good faith effort to notify the employer in advance and a reasonable effort to schedule the leave so it does not unduly disrupt operations. Unforeseeable absences carry no advance-notice requirement.

2. Follow the employer's written notice policy, if one exists

   An employer that requires notice must provide a written policy containing the procedures. An employer that has not given an employee a copy of that written policy cannot deny paid sick leave on the ground that the employee did not follow it.

3. Expect a documentation request only for longer absences

   Reasonable documentation may be required only for paid sick leave of three or more consecutive work days. For health-related leave, a note signed by a health care professional counts. For domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking leave, a police report, a court document, documentation from a victim services advocate, an attorney, a member of the clergy, or a health care professional, or the employee’s own written statement all count.

Two employer practices are prohibited outright. An employer cannot require an employee to find a replacement worker to cover the hours, and cannot require the employee to work an alternate shift to make up the time. Employers also cannot require disclosure of the details of health information or of the domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking underlying the request, and information the employer does hold must be kept confidential. An employer may require leave to be used in set increments, but the minimum increment cannot exceed four hours.

Under Va. Code § 40.1-33.6:5, the Commissioner’s regulations must require employers to notify employees of their rights in writing and by posting, to maintain accrual and use records for three years, and to keep protected health and victim-services information confidential.

Retaliation, complaints, and civil actions

Virginia is an at-will state, which shapes how firings are analyzed generally, as explained in the article on whether Virginia is an at-will employment state. The paid sick leave article carves out a statutory exception. Va. Code § 40.1-33.6:6 bars discharge, discipline, threats, discrimination, or any other retaliatory action because an employee requested or used the benefit, alleged a violation, participated in an investigation, or told someone else about their potential benefits. That protection extends to a person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges a violation, and an absence control policy cannot count protected leave as an absence leading to discipline or discharge.

Enforcement runs on two tracks under Va. Code § 40.1-33.6:7. The administrative track starts with a complaint to the Commissioner of Labor and Industry, filed within one year after the person knew or should have known of the alleged violation. The Commissioner may investigate, review records on the employer’s premises, examine witnesses under oath, issue subpoenas, and attempt mediation, and keeps complainant identities confidential unless the person authorizes disclosure. A knowing violation carries a civil penalty of up to $150 for the first violation, up to $300 for a second violation within two years of a previous one, and up to $500 for each successive violation.

The second track is a private lawsuit. An employee may sue in a court of competent jurisdiction without first filing an administrative complaint. A prevailing employee is entitled to twice the amount of any uncompensated sick leave, twice any actual damages, injunctive relief, reinstatement to the same or an equivalent position where retaliation occurred, and compensation for lost wages, benefits, and other remuneration, plus interest, attorney fees, and costs. The limitations period is two years from the date of the violation or from the date the employee knew or should have known of it.