Key Highlights
- On April 22, 2026, Virginia approved a statewide paid family and medical leave (PFML) program, joining several other states across the nation that have enacted such programs.
- The new program will be administered by the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC), funded through payroll contributions beginning April 1, 2028, and will begin paying benefits on December 1, 2028.
- For Virginia employers, the larger story may be that this is not simply federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) with wage replacement added. Virginia’s PFML program differs from its federal counterpart in who is covered, which relationships and reasons qualify, how benefits are funded, and when job-restoration rights attach.
Virginia’s New PFML Program Creates a Separate State Leave Framework
The new law establishes a state-administered insurance program through the VEC. Under the statute, the VEC must establish and administer the program by January 1, 2028, begin collecting contributions on April 1, 2028, and begin receiving claims and paying benefits on December 1, 2028. The law also permits employers to apply to satisfy their obligations through an approved private plan if that plan provides benefits equal to or greater than those required by the statute.
As enacted, Virginia PFML will provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave in a benefit year for the birth, adoption, or foster placement of a child, the employee’s own serious health condition, care for a family member with a serious health condition, qualifying military family needs, and care for a covered service member. The law also provides up to four weeks of paid leave to seek defined “safety services” for the employee or a family member. Weekly benefits are set at 80% of average weekly wages, subject to a statutory minimum and maximum, and the law expressly allows intermittent or reduced-schedule leave.
PFML leave that also qualifies as leave under the FMLA runs concurrently with FMLA leave, so the employee receives only a total of 12 weeks per year for leave qualifying under both laws. The PFML statute allows employers to require that PFML be used concurrently with any “disability or family care leave” the employer provides, but it is unclear whether this would permit the employer to require the employee to use PFML concurrently with PTO or general paid sick leave, as is commonly required under employer leave policies.
Virginia Joins Other States in Expanding Its PFML Program Beyond FMLA
Because Virginia historically has not imposed paid leave obligations on private employers, the familiar statutory reference point for Virginia employers has been the federal FMLA. Virginia’s new program, however, does not just mirror the federal scheme; instead, it goes well beyond FMLA’s leave entitlements.
1. Virginia PFML Reaches a Broader Pool of Workers than FMLA
FMLA coverage applies to private employers with 50 or more employees and only to employees who have worked for the employer for at least 12 months, worked at least 1,250 hours in the prior 12 months, and work at a site with 50 employees within 75 miles. Virginia officials, by contrast, describe the new PFML benefit as being widely available to nearly all workers in the Commonwealth, and the statute itself makes benefits available to “covered individual[s]” which generally means a worker who satisfies Virginia’s unemployment-law monetary eligibility criteria. On the employer side, the statute also borrows from Virginia’s unemployment-law, which generally reaches an employing unit that paid $1,500 or more in wages in a calendar quarter or had at least one individual in employment for part of a day in each of 20 different weeks in the current or preceding year. These unemployment benefit thresholds for employee and employer coverage are extremely minimal and will be met by the vast majority of employees and employers.
2. Virginia’s Covered Relationships and Qualifying Reasons also Exceed Those Under FMLA
The new Virginia PFML law also provides more reasons for employees to take leave than federal FMLA. PFML not only covers the FMLA-qualifying reasons, but adds a new category of “safety services” related to domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault, or stalking for which an employee can take extended paid leave. In addition, while FMLA allows employees to take leave to care for only very close relatives (a child, parent, or spouse), PFML expands the leave entitlement to allow extended paid leave for an employee to care for more attenuated relations.
3. Unlike Many Other States Virginia Merges Benefit Eligibility and Job Protection
One critical way in which Virginia PFML is broader than both FMLA and other state PFL laws is in its provision of job protection. In most states with similar PFL laws, paid leave and job protection are separated to balance employer and employee interests. An employee might be entitled to paid leave under the broader state program but is only entitled to restoration to their position if they meet FMLA’s requirements for tenure, employer size, etc…, or fit within the requirements of other specific laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act, Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, or state analogues. Virginia PFML, on the other hand, provides job protection and restoration rights for all employees who meet the relatively short 120-day tenure requirement with their current employer before taking leave.
Why This Matters
Virginia PFML adds more than a new leave right. It also adds a new payroll tax, notice requirements, and administrative system. Although employers have a two (2) year lead time before PFML begins to actively operate, the time will soon come for employers to review their leave policies to ensure that PFML leave is coordinated to work alongside the employer’s other leave requirements, and that all leave policies are in line with the new law’s requirements.
