Shorted on minimum wage or overtime? Virginia lets you sue for double

If your Virginia employer pays you less than minimum wage, skips your overtime, shorts you on the prevailing wage, or wrongly calls you an independent contractor to avoid paying what an employee is owed, you can sue under the same remedies Virginia uses for unpaid wages. Normally, if you win, a court awards the wages owed, an equal amount in damages, prejudgment interest, and reasonable attorney fees and costs. If the employer knowingly failed to pay, the total award is three times the wages owed. One exception applies: an employer that proves it acted in good faith and had reasonable grounds for believing it followed the law avoids extra damages and penalties if it pays all withheld wages within 14 days of notice.

The law expressly counts commissions as wages, undoing the result of a 2025 Virginia Supreme Court ruling. It also lets the state labor commissioner investigate without waiting for a worker’s complaint, require sworn statements, examine witnesses, issue subpoenas, and refer cases to the attorney general. You can bring your own lawsuit or file a wage claim with the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry.

Del. Alfonso Lopez was the bill’s chief patron, offered amendments on the House floor, and served as a House conferee when the chambers settled their different versions. Gov. Abigail Spanberger returned the bill with substitute recommendations that added the 14-day good-faith defense and removed proposed retaliation language. Both chambers accepted her changes on April 22, 2026—the House by 64–36 and the Senate by 21–18—and she approved the bill that day. It took effect July 1, 2026.