{"id":4703,"date":"2026-05-28T23:33:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T23:33:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/virginia-enacts-paid-family-and-medical-leave-law-what-employers-should-know-mcguirewoods-llp\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T23:33:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T23:33:32","slug":"virginia-enacts-paid-family-and-medical-leave-law-what-employers-should-know-mcguirewoods-llp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/virginia-enacts-paid-family-and-medical-leave-law-what-employers-should-know-mcguirewoods-llp\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia Enacts Paid Family and Medical Leave Law: What Employers Should Know | McGuireWoods LLP"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"html-view-content\">\n<p>In the 2026 legislative session, Virginia enacted a sweeping insurance program that will require employers to offer employees paid family and medical leave (PFML). As a result, covered employees will be eligible to receive up to 12 weeks of partial wage replacement per benefit year for qualifying family, medical and safety-related leave. Employers and employees at many companies will share contribution costs funding the wage replacements.<\/p>\n<p>Employers already familiar with the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) will find similarities with the Virginia PFML rules. The most important difference between the two is that PFML is paid through a state-administered insurance program while FMLA is unpaid. The two laws are not otherwise identical, so employers should take care when creating and implementing a PFML program.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Qualifying Leave Reasons<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>PFML leave is available for the following reasons:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>caring for a new child during the first year after birth, adoption or placement through foster care;<\/li>\n<li>caring for a family member with a serious health condition;<\/li>\n<li>caring for the employee\u2019s own serious health condition that renders the employee unable to perform his or her job;<\/li>\n<li>caring for a servicemember who is the employee\u2019s next of kin or other family member;<\/li>\n<li>exigency leave arising out of a family member\u2019s active duty military service or notification of an impending order to active duty; and<\/li>\n<li>seeking \u201csafety services\u201d for the employee or a family member, which includes legal or law-enforcement assistance, medical treatment or counseling for domestic violence injuries, sexual assault or stalking, and relocation or home security services.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cSerious health condition\u201d is defined as \u201can illness, injury, impairment, pregnancy, recovery from childbirth, or physical or mental condition that involves inpatient care in a hospital, hospice, or a residential medical care facility or continuing treatment by a health care provider.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFamily member\u201d means a child, grandchild, grandparent, parent, sibling, spouse or domestic partner of an employee, including those with step, foster or adopted relationships. It also includes any individual who: (i) regularly resides in the employee\u2019s home or where the relationship creates an expectation that the employee care for such individual; and (ii) depends on the employee for care. \u201cFamily member\u201d does not include an individual who simply resides in the home with no expectation that the employee care for the individual.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Benefit Duration<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Employees are eligible to receive up to 12 weeks of paid leave per benefit year in all cases except leave for obtaining safety services, which is capped at four weeks per benefit year. The \u201cbenefit year\u201d is the 52-week period beginning on the start date of leave (in some cases, 53 weeks).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Benefit Amount<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a>The benefit amount is 80% of the individual\u2019s average weekly wages (capped at 100% of the state average weekly net earnings, which is currently $1,507.01).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Intermittent and Reduced Schedule Leave<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Employees may take leave on an intermittent or reduced schedule.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Coordination with FMLA and Short-Term Disability<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>PFML leave that also qualifies as FMLA leave \u201cshall run concurrently\u201d with FMLA leave. Additionally, employers are permitted to require employees to take any qualifying short-term disability benefits concurrently with PFML leave.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Job Protection and Benefits Continuation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Any employee who has been employed for at least 120 days prior to beginning PFML leave is entitled to \u201crestoration by the employer to the position held by such covered individual when such leave commenced, or to a position with equivalent seniority, status, employment benefits, pay, and other terms and conditions of employment, including fringe benefits and service credits.\u201d During leave, employers must maintain health care benefits as if the employee had continued working, and the employee must continue paying the employee\u2019s share of premiums.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Prohibited Retaliation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The law broadly prohibits retaliation, which includes denying rights provided by the PFML law or taking adverse action against an employee for exercising rights under the law or for participating in an investigation or proceeding under the law. The law specifically prohibits employers from reporting or threatening to report an employee\u2019s suspected citizenship or immigration status for exercising rights under the PFML law. Employers may not count paid family and medical leave taken under this chapter as an absence that may lead to discipline, discharge, demotion, suspension or other adverse action.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Remedies and Enforcement<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Employees have a private right of action under PFML. Employers that violate the job-protection or anti-retaliation provisions are liable for damages equal to lost wages, salary, employment benefits or other compensation, plus interest at the legal rate, and liquidated damages equal to the combined amount of damages and interest. Courts may also award equitable relief, including employment, reinstatement and promotion.<\/p>\n<p>Employers can maintain a good-faith defense, however. A court may reduce the liquidated-damages award if the employer proves that the violation \u201cwas in good faith and that the employer had reasonable grounds for believing that the act or omission was not a violation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Commissioner of Labor and Industry may also investigate violations, institute administrative proceedings, and, upon referral to the attorney general, bring court proceedings to collect remedies on behalf of affected employees.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Statute of Limitations<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Actions must be brought within one year of the last event constituting the alleged violation, or within three years for willful violations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PFML Funding Through Employee and Employer Contributions<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>PFML will be funded through employer and employee contributions deposited into a newly created Family and Medical Leave Insurance Trust Fund. The Commissioner will fix per-employee contribution rates annually, beginning no later than Oct. 1, 2027. Employers must begin remitting payroll contributions to the Family and Medical Leave Insurance Trust Fund by April 1, 2028.<\/p>\n<p>Employers of more than 10 employees must deduct 50% (or a lesser agreed amount) of the contribution from employees\u2019 wages, and contribute the remaining 50% (or more, if agreed) to remit the full contribution to the Commission. Employers of 10 or fewer employees are exempt from the employer portion and must only remit the employees\u2019 50%, as deducted from their wages.<\/p>\n<p>However, employers must not deduct an employee share if doing so would cause an employee\u2019s wage to fall below the applicable minimum wage. Additionally, contributions are not required on wages or self-employment income above the Social Security contribution and benefit base limit.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Alternative Approved Private Plans<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Employers may apply to the Commission for approval of a private plan that provides paid family and medical leave benefits \u201cequal to or greater than\u201d the benefits provided under the program. The Commission may withdraw approval if employers fail to pay benefits, misuse plan money or otherwise fail to comply with the program\u2019s requirements. Employees covered by an approved private plan retain all applicable rights under the job protection and anti-retaliation provisions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Employer Notice Requirements<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Employers must provide written notice to each employee upon hiring and annually thereafter, including a statement of employees\u2019 right to benefits, the amount of benefits available, the procedure for filing a claim, the right to job protection and benefits continuation, the prohibition on retaliation, and the right to file a complaint. Employers must also \u201cdisplay and maintain a poster provided by the Commission in a conspicuous place accessible to employees\u201d containing the required information \u201cin English, Spanish, and any language that is the first language spoken by at least five percent of the employer\u2019s workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Timeline for Implementation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>By Oct. 1, 2027, the Commissioner will announce the per-employee contribution rates. Employers must begin remitting payroll contributions to the Family and Medical Leave Insurance Trust Fund by April 1, 2028. By Dec. 1, 2028, the Virginia Employment Commission will begin receiving claims and paying benefits.<\/p>\n<p><strong>More to Come<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The PFML law provides more details around topics such as employee eligibility, employee notice, certification requirements, payment timing requirements, private plan recertification requirements and self-employed elective coverage. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the 2026 legislative session, Virginia enacted a sweeping insurance program that will require employers to offer employees paid family and medical leave (PFML). As a result, covered employees will be eligible to receive up to 12 weeks of partial wage replacement per benefit year for qualifying family, medical and safety-related leave. Employers and employees [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2579,3627,345,2011,966,2132,3251,2766,3084,2213],"class_list":["post-4703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-employers","tag-enacts","tag-family","tag-law","tag-leave","tag-llp","tag-mcguirewoods","tag-medical","tag-paid","tag-virginia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}