How do Virginia wage, overtime and meal break laws work in 2026?

The single state rate applies everywhere in Virginia under Va. Code 40.1-28.10, with no city or county minimum layered on top, so the same $12.77 holds in Richmond, Arlington and rural counties alike. Because it rises every January, a hire near the bottom of your pay band gets more expensive each year, so build the step-ups into the cost model rather than reacting to them. See Virginia state tax and unemployment insurance for how the wage floor feeds into your total employer-cost picture.

For tipped roles the number that matters is the floor per hour worked, which is $12.77, not the $2.13 cash figure. If a server's tips do not bring the hour up to the full minimum, the employer pays the gap, and the tip-credit records have to prove it. Costing tipped staff at the cash wage alone is how a Virginia hospitality payroll runs short. The US DOL Wage and Hour Division publishes tip-credit guidance that applies directly here.

There is a short history worth knowing. Virginia passed a standalone Overtime Wage Act effective 1 July 2021 that briefly created its own overtime regime with a different damages exposure from federal law. A year later, HB 1173 rolled it back, and from 1 July 2022 Virginia overtime tracks the FLSA overtime standard again. Guidance written for the 2021 version is out of date, so check the date on anything you rely on.

In practice, you total the hours in the workweek and pay 1.5 times the regular rate on everything over 40. DOLI itself points overtime complaints to the US DOL Wage and Hour Division, which confirms federal rules are the live standard. For a side-by-side look at how a neighbouring state runs the same weekly test, see North Carolina wage and overtime law.

For an adult workforce, breaks in Virginia are a matter of policy, not law. You may offer rest and meal breaks, and most employers do, but the state does not compel them. Federal rules still apply where they bite: the FLSA makes short rest breaks of 20 minutes or less paid time, and a bona fide meal break is unpaid only if the employee is fully relieved of duty. A working lunch at a desk is still paid. Check how you handle Virginia paid leave alongside your break policy.

The minor rule is the only hard requirement. A 30-minute lunch after 5 continuous hours applies to under-16s under Va. Code 40.1-80.1, and employers of minors must keep time records showing the meal period. If you hire under-16s for seasonal or retail work in Virginia, that break and its paperwork are enforced by DOLI's child labor unit, with civil penalties for breaches.

The salary number alone never settles it. A worker paid above $684 a week is exempt only if the actual job duties meet the executive, administrative or professional definition under the FLSA. Pay a salary but assign non-exempt duties and the exemption fails, which turns every over-40-hour week into unpaid overtime and back-pay exposure. Misclassification, not the rate, is the expensive Virginia error. Use the employer cost calculator to model what a misclassified worker actually costs.

The federal threshold has moved recently, so date matters. A 2024 rule raised the salary level, courts vacated it, and in May 2026 the Department of Labor restored the 2019 standard of $684 a week. If your classification was reviewed against the short-lived higher figure, it is worth a second look. Where federal and Virginia rules ever differ, the standard more generous to the employee applies. Your Virginia termination obligations also shift depending on whether the worker is correctly classified.

Real HR and legal experts handle your Virginia hires and know the $12.77 minimum, the weekly-only overtime rule, the $684 exemption threshold, and the tip-credit mechanics. An actual person, not a chatbot or a pooled queue. Overtime, premium pay and the no-adult-break position are applied correctly, and every cost passes through at cost, itemised on every invoice. No setup fee, no exit fee. You see every line.

Contractor onboarding, EOR payroll, and entity graduation all live on one platform: a Virginia contractor who converts to W-2 keeps their record, and that same employee can graduate to your own US entity without switching systems. Use the Crossover Calculator to see the month the model flips. EOR is the right model for Virginia, until it isn't.