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The Mandate Monitor

Virginia Paid Family and Medical Leave: what employers owe starting April 1, 2028

UpcomingChecked November 8, 2026Run by Virginia Employment Commission (VEC)

Short answer

Virginia’s new paid family and medical leave program, run by the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC), starts payroll contributions on April 1, 2028 and pays benefits from December 1, 2028. The contribution rate hasn’t been set: the VEC Commissioner must set the 2028 rate by October 1, 2027, the cost is normally split evenly between employer and employee, and employers with 10 or fewer employees don’t pay the employer share. The law was enacted in 2026 as Senate Bill 2 and House Bill 1207 (Virginia Code §§ 60.2-800 to 60.2-818).

Next date: October 1, 2027: Deadline for the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) to set the 2028 contribution rate. After 2028 the rate for each year is set by October 1 of the year before.

Does your payroll handle Virginia Paid Family and Medical Leave? See the free state route and how payroll handles it.

Virginia Paid Family and Medical Leave deadlines

  1. · Paid leave

    Deadline for the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) to set the 2028 contribution rate

    After 2028 the rate for each year is set by October 1 of the year before.

  2. · Paid leave

    Payroll contributions begin for covered employers and employees

  3. · Paid leave

    Workers can apply for benefits, and the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) begins paying claims

Dates already passed (1)
  • : The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) publishes its notice of intended regulatory action, the first formal step in writing the program’s rules.

What employers have to do

  1. Nothing to file yet. The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) is writing regulations and hasn’t announced how or when employers register, report wages or pay.
  2. Watch for the 2028 contribution rate, due by October 1, 2027, and set up payroll deductions before contributions begin April 1, 2028.
  3. Give each employee written notice of their rights when hired and once a year, and again when an employee asks for leave or you learn an employee plans leave that may qualify. Display the poster the VEC will provide, in English, Spanish and any language that is the first language of at least 5% of your workforce (Va. Code § 60.2-811).
  4. Hold the job (or an equivalent one) for employees with at least 120 days of service who take paid leave, and keep their health coverage going during leave (Va. Code § 60.2-808).

Handling Virginia Paid Family and Medical Leave in payroll

The free route: register directly with the state

When the program is open to you, you can register and report on your own through Virginia Employment Commission (VEC). Once it starts, your payroll will have to figure the premium on each paycheck and withhold any employee share.

We list a payroll system here once a help document describes how it handles Virginia Paid Family and Medical Leave, whether the company’s own or the program’s, with the link and the date we read it. See how we make money.

How Virginia Paid Family and Medical Leave works

Contributions are a percentage of wages up to the Social Security wage base, with the rate set each year by October 1 for the next calendar year. Employers with more than 10 employees deduct half of the contribution from each employee’s wages, or less if employer and employee agree, and send the full amount to the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC). Deductions can’t push pay below the minimum wage. For 2028 and 2029 the rate is set on actuarial grounds; from 2030 it is adjusted so the fund’s projected balance doesn’t fall below 40% of yearly program spending (Va. Code § 60.2-806).

Unknown until the rate is set by October 1, 2027. By default the cost is split evenly: an employer with more than 10 employees pays at least half of each employee’s contribution, and an employer with 10 or fewer pays none of it.

From December 1, 2028, up to 12 weeks in a benefit year for a new child (birth, adoption or foster care), the worker’s own serious health condition, a family member’s serious health condition, care for a family member who is a service member, or a family member’s military deployment, including up to 4 weeks to seek safety services related to domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. The weekly benefit is 80% of the worker’s average weekly wage, at least $100 and at most the state average weekly wage; the 2028 maximum hasn’t been published. Workers need earnings of at least $3,000 a quarter in two of the last five quarters, and job protection applies after 120 days with the employer.

Questions employers ask

Who has to follow Virginia Paid Family and Medical Leave?

Employers covered by Virginia’s unemployment insurance law (Va. Code § 60.2-210), which generally means paying $1,500 or more in wages in any calendar quarter, or having at least one employee for some part of a day in 20 different weeks, in the current or prior year. State government is excluded (state employees get a matching benefit through state personnel policy), and so are railroad employers covered by the federal railroad unemployment law. Self-employed people can opt in, for an initial period of at least three years.

Is there a small-employer rule?

Employers with 10 or fewer employees don’t pay the employer contribution. They deduct the employee share, half of the per-employee contribution, from pay and send it to the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) (Va. Code § 60.2-806(E)). The law doesn’t say how employees are counted for this test; the VEC is writing regulations.

What happens if an employer doesn’t comply?

Unpaid contributions carry interest of 1.5% a month. The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) can sue to collect, hold an officer who willfully fails to pay personally liable, and ask a court to bar an employer that stays in default from doing business in Virginia (Va. Code § 60.2-813). An employer that refuses to restore an employee’s job, or retaliates, owes lost pay with interest plus an equal amount as liquidated damages, and the Commissioner of Labor and Industry can investigate (Va. Code §§ 60.2-808, 60.2-809).

Can employers use a private plan instead?

Allowed with approval from the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC). An insured or self-insured plan must give at least the same benefits and protections as the state program and can’t charge employees more; a self-insured employer must show it can pay claims. Approval lasts two years, with a fee at each approval and renewal, and employers with private plans repay the VEC’s cost of overseeing them (Va. Code § 60.2-816). The application process hasn’t been published.

Everything employers in Virginia must do ·Paid leave in every state

Sources

  1. Va. Code §§ 60.2-800 through 60.2-818 (2026 Acts of Assembly, chapters 981 and 1093: Senate Bill 2 and House Bill 1207)
  2. Va. Code § 60.2-210, definition of employer, Virginia General Assembly, Legislative Information System (read Nov 7, 2026)
  3. Virginia Paid Family and Medical Leave (program timeline: rate by October 1, 2027; contributions April 1, 2028; benefits December 1, 2028), Virginia Employment Commission (read Nov 7, 2026)
  4. Paid Family and Medical Leave FAQs (October 2026), Virginia Employment Commission (read Nov 7, 2026)
  5. Paid Family and Medical Leave news (enactment announcement, April 22, 2026; notice of intended regulatory action, June 15, 2026), Virginia Employment Commission (read Nov 7, 2026)