Virginia bias law now covers employers with 5 or more workers

Virginia’s Human Rights Act bans job discrimination based on race, sex, religion, disability, age, sexual orientation, and other protected traits. Until this summer, most of those protections applied only at employers with 15 or more workers. At employers with 6 to 14 workers, most employees could bring a claim if they were fired over discrimination, but not over unfair pay, a denied promotion, a demotion, or harassment on the job. Since July 1, 2026, the law’s general employment-discrimination rules cover employers with at least five employees for each working day in 20 or more weeks of the current or previous year.

The law also gives workers more time. You now have two years from the date of the discrimination to file a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights in the Attorney General’s office. Before, you had 300 days. You don’t have to apply for anything to be covered. The law also says plainly that schools and colleges count as places of public accommodation, so they can’t turn people away for discriminatory reasons.

Sen. Adam Ebbin carried the bill, with Sen. Jennifer Boysko and Del. Amy Laufer as copatrons. It passed the Senate 21–19 and the House of Delegates 62–35, with Democrats voting for it and no Republican votes. Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed it on April 13, 2026.