Statute
Classes Protected
- Sex, race, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions including lactation, age, military status, disability, or ethnic or national origin
Key Language on Pay Discrimination
- “No employer having employees shall discriminate, within any establishment in which such employees are employed, between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions[.]”
- It is an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer to “discriminate against any individual with respect to such individual's compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions including lactation, age, military status, disability, or ethnic or national origin[.]”
Exceptions for Pay Disparities (Including Affirmative Defenses)
- Seniority system
- Merit system
- System which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production
- Differential based on any other factor other than sex
Prohibition on Salary History Inquiry (Public Employers)
- As part of the state Employment Equity Initiative, the Virginia Department of Human Resource Management has eliminated the salary history field from applications for state jobs.
- No employer shall seek the wage or salary history of a prospective employee.
- No employer shall rely on the wage or salary history of a prospective employee in considering the prospective employee for employment.
- No employer shall rely 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, unless the prospective employee voluntarily provides his wage or salary history without the employer’s prompting, at which point (1) the employer may rely on such wage or salary history to support a wage or salary higher than the employer’s initial offer of compensation and (2) the employer may seek to confirm the wage or salary history of the prospective employee to support a wage or salary higher than the wage or salary initially offered.
Anti-Retaliation
- No employer shall refuse to interview, hire, employ, or promote or otherwise retaliate against a prospective or current employee for not providing wage or salary history or requesting a wage or salary range.
Wage Disclosure Requirement
- No employer shall fail or refuse 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 for the position.
Pay Transparency
- Virginia’s pay transparency law, taking effect on July 1, 2026, requires all employers to disclose good-faith wage or salary ranges in all internal and external job postings.
Other Key Provisions
- Section does not apply to employers covered by the FLSA.