Virginia Workplace Harassment Laws: 5-Employee Rule, 2 Years (2026)

Workplace harassment is unlawful in Virginia through the Virginia Human Rights Act, which makes it an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer to discriminate against any individual "with respect to such individual's compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment" because of a protected trait (Va. Code § 2.2-3905(B)(1)(a)). The Act has no separate harassment clause, but § 2.2-3902 adds that conduct violating any Virginia or federal statute or regulation governing discrimination on a listed basis "is an unlawful discriminatory practice under this chapter."

Since July 1, 2026, the Act's employment rules reach employers with five or more employees, as well as any person employing one or more domestic workers (a branch added in 2021), and a complaint to the Attorney General's Office of Civil Rights is due within two years of the alleged practice (§§ 2.2-3905(A), 2.2-3907(A)). For other states, see workplace harassment laws by state.

Information last verified on 2026-10-20. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers Virginia state law on workplace harassment by employers, supervisors and coworkers under the Virginia Human Rights Act (Va. Code §§ 2.2-3900 to 2.2-3909), with the related rules in §§ 40.1-28.01, 2.2-4201, 30-129.4, 8.01-42.1 and 22.1-291.4. It does not cover wrongful firing or the full complaint and lawsuit procedure (see Virginia wrongful termination), damages estimates, criminal harassment or stalking, harassment outside employment, local ordinances, or federal-employee procedure.

Virginia harassment rules at a glance

What Virginia law prohibits

The Virginia Human Rights Act (VHRA) handles harassment the way Title VII's text does: through a general ban on discrimination in the terms of a job. Section 2.2-3905(B)(1)(a) makes it an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer to:

"Fail or refuse to hire, discharge, or otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to such individual's compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions including lactation, age, military status, disability, or ethnic or national origin;" (Va. Code § 2.2-3905(B)(1)(a))

The word "harass" does not appear in the chapter's employment sections. What ties federal harassment law to the VHRA is § 2.2-3902, which tells courts to read the chapter liberally and adds:

"Conduct that violates any Virginia or federal statute or regulation governing discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions including lactation, age, military status, disability, or ethnic or national origin is an unlawful discriminatory practice under this chapter." (Va. Code § 2.2-3902)

Because of that sentence, conduct that violates a federal discrimination statute such as Title VII on one of the listed bases is also an unlawful discriminatory practice under Virginia law.

Which Virginia employers are covered

Since July 1, 2026, the VHRA defines an employer as "a person employing (i) five or more employees for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, and any agent of such a person, or (ii) one or more domestic workers" (§ 2.2-3905(A)). The Code of Virginia lists § 2.2-3905, along with the deadline and civil-action sections §§ 2.2-3907 and 2.2-3908, among the sections that took effect on July 1, 2026. The domestic-worker branch is older: it was added by 2021 Acts, Sp. Sess. I, c. 506, while the general threshold was 15 employees.

The same definition governs harassment and every other employment claim under the Act; there is no lower threshold for harassment alone. That differs from federal law: Title VII applies to an employer that "has fifteen or more employees for each working day in each of twenty or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year" (42 U.S.C. § 2000e(b)).

Articles written before July 2026 may describe a different threshold or deadline. Whether an earlier version of the Act governs conduct that happened before July 1, 2026 is a question for the Office of Civil Rights or a lawyer licensed in Virginia.

Two accommodation sections in the same chapter count employees differently. The disability accommodation section applies to an employer "employing more than five employees" (§ 2.2-3905.1(A)), while the pregnancy accommodation section uses "five or more employees" (§ 2.2-3909(A)).

Domestic workers

The domestic-worker branch means a household with a single nanny, housekeeper, home health aide or similar worker is an employer under the Act, unless the worker falls in one of the definition's exclusions. Section 2.2-3905(A) defines a domestic worker as "an individual who is compensated directly or indirectly for the performance of services of a household nature performed in or about a private home," and lists examples including companions, babysitters, cooks, maids, nannies, nurses, caretakers, gardeners, home health aides, personal care aides and chauffeurs. The term does not include "a family member, friend, neighbor, or parent of a child who provides child care in the child's home," a child day program or its employees, or an employee employed on a casual basis to provide companionship services for individuals who, because of age or infirmity, are unable to care for themselves.

Interns, volunteers and contractors

The Act's employment prohibitions protect employees and applicants, and they also reach employment agencies, labor organizations and joint apprenticeship committees. Its definitions in §§ 2.2-3901 and 2.2-3905(A) contain no language extending coverage to independent contractors, volunteers or unpaid interns, or addressing harassment of an employee by a non-employee.

Protected traits

Section 2.2-3905(B)(1)(a) lists race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions including lactation, age, military status, disability, and ethnic or national origin. Several definitions shape that list:

• Age: "'Age' means being an individual who is at least 40 years of age" (§ 2.2-3905(A)).
• Hair texture and protective hairstyles: discrimination "because of race" includes discrimination "because of or on the basis of traits historically associated with race, including hair texture, hair type, and protective hairstyles such as braids, locks, and twists" (§ 2.2-3901(D)).
• Religion: "'Religion' includes any outward expression of religious faith, including adherence to religious dressing and grooming practices and the carrying or display of religious items or symbols" (§ 2.2-3901).
• Sex: the list itself names pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions, including lactation.

Section 2.2-3901 also defines sexual orientation, gender identity and military status. Several traits on the Virginia list, such as sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, military status, age and disability, are not named in Title VII's list of race, color, religion, sex and national origin. Genetic information, political affiliation, criminal record and source of income are not among the traits listed in § 2.2-3905(B)(1)(a).

The legal standard for a hostile work environment

The VHRA does not state a hostile-environment test. It contains no "severe or pervasive" language and no statement that harassment need not be severe or pervasive, and it does not define sexual harassment.

The Code's only statutory definition of sexual harassment is in the Sexual Harassment Training Act for the legislative branch, and § 40.1-28.01 borrows it for the NDA rule:

"'Sexual harassment' means unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when such conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment." (Va. Code § 30-129.4(A))

How courts measure hostile-environment conduct under the VHRA is a matter of case law that this page does not summarize. Because § 2.2-3902 brings federal discrimination law into the chapter, federal harassment standards are the usual reference point; the workplace harassment laws hub explains them.

Employer responsibility and the individual harasser

The VHRA has no section on when an employer answers for harassment by a supervisor, a coworker or a customer, and it codifies no affirmative defense. An employer's responsibility rests on the discrimination clause in § 2.2-3905(B)(1) and, through § 2.2-3902, on federal law.

On personal liability, the Act's employment prohibitions in § 2.2-3905(B) are written against employers, employment agencies, labor organizations and joint apprenticeship committees. The chapter has no aiding-and-abetting clause and no provision naming an individual employee who harasses as a party who commits an unlawful practice; its definition of employer includes "any agent of such a person." Whether a supervisor can be sued individually under the VHRA is not answered in terms by the statute.

Retaliation for complaining

Section 2.2-3905(B)(7) makes it an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer to discriminate against employees or applicants "because such individual has opposed any practice made an unlawful discriminatory practice by this chapter or because such individual has made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under this chapter." How a firing after a complaint fits with Virginia's default employment rule is covered on the Virginia at-will employment page.

Deadlines and where to file

The Office of Civil Rights in the Office of the Attorney General receives employment discrimination complaints. The office requires every complaint to be signed and supported by a written declaration under penalty of perjury, and it offers online and paper complaint forms.

• Agency deadline (since July 1, 2026): "a complaint alleging a violation of this chapter or federal statutes governing discrimination in employment that also falls under the jurisdiction of this chapter shall be filed with the Office no later than two years from the day upon which the alleged discriminatory practice occurred" (§ 2.2-3907(A)). The Act sets no separate deadline for harassment.
• Court deadline: "Any such civil action may only be filed, if at all, within 90 days of the complainant's receipt of a notice of his right to file a civil action" (§ 2.2-3908(A)(1)). A court accepts an EEOC Notice of Right to Sue as that notice (§ 2.2-3907(I)). Section 2.2-3908(A)(2) also allows a civil action once 180 days have passed since a complaint was filed with the Office or a local human rights commission without a notice of the right to file a civil action being provided.
• Federal complaints: the office may investigate complaints under a federal statute and try to resolve them through conciliation; unresolved ones are referred to the federal agency with jurisdiction, and the office then has no further jurisdiction over them (§ 2.2-3902).
• Federal charge: the EEOC states that its "180 calendar day filing deadline is extended to 300 calendar days if a state or local agency enforces a law that prohibits employment discrimination on the same basis." The EEOC's Richmond field office lists the Office of Civil Rights as a Fair Employment Practice Agency for its area, and its timeliness guidance extends the 180-day deadline to 300 days "if there is a state or local anti-discrimination law that covers the location of the alleged harm and the basis for the charge."

The steps between a complaint and a lawsuit, including right-to-sue requests, are on the Virginia wrongful termination page. Remedies and the damages cap are covered there as well, and the Virginia employment discrimination settlement calculator is an estimating tool, not a prediction of any outcome.

Training and written policies

Virginia's harassment training rules are written for two groups.

• State contractors: § 2.2-4201 requires every government contract of over $10,000, and every subcontract or purchase order of over $10,000 under it, to include these terms: "If the contractor employs more than five employees, the contractor shall (i) provide annual training on the contractor's sexual harassment policy to all supervisors and employees providing services in the Commonwealth," except those who must complete training from the Department of Human Resource Management, and "(ii) post the contractor's sexual harassment policy in (a) a conspicuous public place in each building located in the Commonwealth that the contractor owns or leases for business purposes and (b) the contractor's employee handbook."
• Legislative branch: "Every legislative branch employee shall once every two calendar years complete a sexual harassment training course provided by the Office of the Clerk of the House of Delegates or the Office of the Clerk of the Senate" (§ 30-129.4(B)(1)).

The Virginia Human Rights Act contains no training or written-policy clause. A private employer that holds no state contract carrying § 2.2-4201's terms is outside both mandates above.

NDAs, confidentiality and arbitration

Section 40.1-28.01 limits nondisclosure terms imposed as a condition of a job:

"A. No employer shall require an employee or a prospective employee to execute or renew any provision in a nondisclosure or confidentiality agreement, including any provision relating to nondisparagement, that has the purpose or effect of concealing the details relating to a claim of sexual assault pursuant to § 18.2-61, 18.2-67.1, 18.2-67.3, or 18.2-67.4 or a claim of sexual harassment as defined in § 30-129.4 as a condition of employment. Any such provision is against public policy and is void and unenforceable." (Va. Code § 40.1-28.01(A))

The rule is limited to provisions required "as a condition of employment," and it reaches claims of sexual harassment and the listed sexual assault offenses, not harassment on other traits. Subsection B adds that the section does not limit other legal or equitable grounds for finding such an agreement unenforceable. The section dates from 2019 and was amended in 2023.

Federal law adds limits for sexual harassment disputes: the Speak Out Act makes nondisclosure and nondisparagement clauses agreed to before a sexual harassment dispute arises judicially unenforceable where the conduct is alleged to violate federal, tribal or state law, and the Ending Forced Arbitration Act lets the person alleging sexual harassment elect court over a predispute arbitration agreement; the workplace harassment laws hub explains both.

Is workplace bullying illegal in Virginia?

The VHRA reaches mistreatment tied to the traits it lists. Virginia's abusive-work-environment statute is written for public schools: each school board must adopt policies to "Prohibit abusive work environments in the school division" (§ 22.1-291.4(C)), and "abusive conduct" means conduct of a school board employee "that a reasonable person would find hostile and that is severe enough to cause physical harm or psychological harm to another school board employee" (§ 22.1-291.4(A)). That rule binds school boards, not private employers.

Other Virginia routes

Virginia's civil action for harassment motivated by racial, religious, gender, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation or ethnic animosity does not reach workplace disputes. Section 8.01-42.1(C) states that it "shall not apply to any actions between an employee and his employer, or between or among employees of the same employer, for damages arising out of incidents occurring in the workplace or arising out of the employee-employer relationship."

Separately, a judge or magistrate may issue an emergency protective order to protect any person when an alleged victim or officer asserts under oath that the person is being or has been subjected to "an act of violence, force, or threat" (§ 19.2-152.8). That order is not specific to employment.

Documenting harassment and workplace monitoring

The rules on recording a conversation at work, including one with a harasser, are on the Virginia workplace recording laws page. Employer monitoring of email, devices and workspaces is covered on the Virginia employee monitoring laws page.

Recent changes to Virginia harassment law

• 2019: § 40.1-28.01 barred NDAs that conceal sexual assault or sexual harassment claims as a condition of employment (2019, c. 131); amended in 2023 (c. 511).
• 2020: § 2.2-4201(3) added the contractor duty to train on and post a sexual harassment policy (2020, c. 859).
• 2021: the employer definition added any person employing one or more domestic workers (2021 Acts, Sp. Sess. I, c. 506).
• 2026: Chapter 950 of the 2026 Acts amended §§ 2.2-3905 and 2.2-3907, and Chapter 1119 amended §§ 2.2-3907 and 2.2-3908. Since July 1, 2026, the Act's employer definition covers five or more employees (alongside the 2021 domestic-worker branch), and the Office of Civil Rights complaint deadline is two years.

Related pages

• Workplace harassment laws by state
• Virginia wrongful termination
• Virginia at-will employment laws
• Virginia employee monitoring laws
• Virginia workplace recording laws

This article provides general legal information about Virginia workplace harassment law under the Virginia Human Rights Act and related Code of Virginia sections as of 2026-10-20. It is not legal advice. For advice about a specific situation, contact a lawyer licensed in Virginia or the Office of Civil Rights in the Office of the Attorney General.

Last updated: 2026-10-20.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is workplace harassment illegal in Virginia?

The Virginia Human Rights Act has no separate harassment clause, but it bars employers from discriminating in the compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because of a protected trait (Va. Code § 2.2-3905(B)(1)(a)), and § 2.2-3902 makes conduct that violates a Virginia or federal discrimination statute or regulation on a listed basis an unlawful discriminatory practice under the Act.

How many employees does an employer need for Virginia harassment law to apply?

Since July 1, 2026, the Act covers a person employing five or more employees for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, or one or more domestic workers (§ 2.2-3905(A)); the domestic-worker branch dates from 2021. The same rule applies to harassment and other discrimination claims.

How long do you have to file a harassment complaint in Virginia?

Since July 1, 2026, a complaint to the Office of Civil Rights must be filed no later than two years from the day the alleged discriminatory practice occurred (§ 2.2-3907(A)). A lawsuit may be filed within 90 days of receiving a notice of the right to file a civil action (§ 2.2-3908(A)(1)), or once 180 days have passed since a complaint was filed with the Office or a local human rights commission without that notice being provided (§ 2.2-3908(A)(2)).

Are domestic workers protected from harassment in Virginia?

Yes. A person employing one or more domestic workers, such as a nanny, housekeeper or home health aide, is an employer under the Virginia Human Rights Act (§ 2.2-3905(A)). That branch of the definition dates from 2021 (2021 Acts, Sp. Sess. I, c. 506); the 2026 amendments lowered the separate employee count to five.

Does Virginia require sexual harassment training?

The Virginia Human Rights Act contains no training clause. Contractors on Virginia government contracts of over $10,000 that employ more than five employees must give annual training on their sexual harassment policy and post it (§ 2.2-4201(3)), and legislative branch employees train once every two calendar years (§ 30-129.4(B)(1)).

Can a Virginia employer make me sign an NDA about sexual harassment?

Section 40.1-28.01 bars an employer from requiring an employee or prospective employee, as a condition of employment, to sign or renew a nondisclosure, confidentiality or nondisparagement provision that has the purpose or effect of concealing the details of a sexual harassment or listed sexual assault claim. Such a provision is void and unenforceable.

Is hair discrimination covered by Virginia harassment law?

Discrimination because of race under Virginia law includes discrimination on the basis of traits historically associated with race, including hair texture, hair type, and protective hairstyles such as braids, locks, and twists (§ 2.2-3901(D)).

Is workplace bullying illegal in Virginia?

The Virginia Human Rights Act reaches mistreatment tied to the traits it lists. Virginia's abusive-work-environment rule, § 22.1-291.4, requires school boards to adopt policies prohibiting abusive work environments; it does not apply to private employers.