Virginia salary history ban: Va. Code 40.1-28.7:12 for recruiters

Since July 1, 2026, Virginia bars employers from seeking a prospective employee's wage or salary history, relying on it in considering or paying them, or acting against someone who will not provide it. The rule is in Virginia Code section 40.1-28.7:12, enacted in the 2026 session as Chapters 996 and 1063 of the Acts of Assembly, which also requires a pay range in every public and internal posting. The two duties sit in one section, share one enforcement scheme, and apply to employers of every size.

This page covers the salary history half. The posting half, including the 15-business-day cure window, is in our Virginia pay transparency guide.

The statute

Subsection B of section 40.1-28.7:12 says no employer shall:

1. "Seek the wage or salary history of a prospective employee";
2. "Rely on the wage or salary history of a prospective employee in considering the prospective employee for employment";
3. Except as provided in subsection D, rely on it "in determining the wages or salary the prospective employee is to be paid upon hire";
4. "Refuse to interview, hire, employ, or promote or otherwise retaliate against a prospective or current employee for not providing wage or salary history or requesting a wage or salary range."

Subdivisions B 5 and B 6 cover posting the range and setting it in good faith. "Wage or salary history" means "the wage or salary paid to the prospective employee by the prospective employee's current or previous employer."

Who is covered

The section does not define "employer," so the general definition in Va. Code § 40.1-2 applies: an individual, partnership, association, corporation or similar person "doing business in or operating within this Commonwealth who employs another to work for wages, salaries, or on commission," including "any similar entity acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee." There is no headcount threshold.

For agencies, the last clause is the one that matters. A recruiter screening for a Virginia client acts in the client's interest, so the safe reading is that the agency is bound by the ban directly. Nothing in the section exempts third parties.

What is banned and what is allowed

The upward-only rule

Subsection D sets the only route for using history. If a prospective employee "voluntarily provides his wage or salary history to an employer without the employer's prompting," the employer:

• "may rely on such wage or salary history to support a wage or salary higher than the employer's initial offer of compensation"; and
• "may seek to confirm" that history to support the higher figure,

in each case "only to the extent that the higher wage or salary does not violate the provisions of § 40.1-28.6 or federal law." Section 40.1-28.6 is Virginia's equal pay statute.

The structure is close to Maryland's and Rhode Island's (see Maryland salary history ban). In practice it means the initial offer must be built without history, and history can only enter as the candidate's argument for more. A recruiter who hears "I'm on more than that" after an offer can pass it on as a request; the employer decides whether to confirm it and whether the higher number fits its pay equity picture.

How it fits with the posting rule

Subdivision B 5 requires the wage, salary or range in "each public and internal posting for each job, promotion, transfer, or other employment opportunity," and B 6 requires the range to be set in good faith. Because the range is already public, the history question has even less purpose. Two practical links between the halves:

• Asking for the range is protected. B 4 bars retaliating against someone for "requesting a wage or salary range," so a candidate who pushes for detail on an unposted role cannot be marked down for it.
• The cure window is posting-only. Subsection F lets an employer fix a non-compliant posting within 15 business days of written notice before a private suit can be brought over B 5 or B 6. There is no cure window for B 1 to B 4.

Enforcement and penalties

• Attorney General. Under subsection E, the Attorney General may sue to enforce the section. An employer that violates it is subject to a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for the first violation and up to $5,000 for any subsequent violation, plus other legal and equitable relief.
• Private suits. Under subsection F, an aggrieved prospective employee or employee may sue "within one year of when the prospective employee's or employee's rights under subsection B were violated," and may recover actual damages and other legal and equitable relief.

Internal moves and promotions

The ban in subdivisions B 1 to B 3 is written about a "prospective employee." The anti-retaliation rule in B 4 is wider: it protects a "prospective or current employee" from being refused an interview, hire, employment or promotion, or otherwise retaliated against, for not providing wage or salary history or for requesting a range. And B 5 requires the range in postings for "each job, promotion, transfer, or other employment opportunity," internal ones included.

The section does not say whether an employer may look at an internal candidate's own pay history at the company when setting promotion pay, and employers normally know it anyway. What is clear is that an employee who asks for the range of an internal opening, or declines to discuss pay from an outside job, cannot be marked down for it.

Agency intake for Virginia roles

• Range first. Get the good-faith range before you post or source. Your ad is a public posting and should carry it; see pay transparency for staffing agencies.
• No history requests. Agree in writing that the client will not ask you or the candidate for pay history before an offer.
• Who handles post-offer history. Agree that if the candidate raises current pay after an offer, you pass it on as a request and the client decides whether to confirm it.
• Submittals. Expectation, flexibility and notice period only, using a candidate submittal template with no current-pay field.

A Virginia script

Opening the pay topic

"The posted range is $82,000 to $96,000 (example figures). What are you looking for?"

When the candidate asks if you need their current pay

"No. Since July we don't ask in Virginia, and not sharing it won't affect your application."

After the offer, when the candidate raises current pay

"Thanks for telling me. I'll put that to the client as a request for a higher figure. They may ask to confirm it."

When the client asks before an offer

"Virginia's new law doesn't let us ask, and the first offer has to be built without it. His expectation is $92,000. If he raises his current pay after the offer, the law lets you consider it to go higher."

Virginia checklist

1. Remove salary history fields from applications, screens and agency intake templates for Virginia roles.
2. Build every initial offer from the range and job-related factors only.
3. Treat volunteered history as an upward-only request, routed to the employer.
4. Never mark down a candidate for declining to share pay or asking for the range.
5. Ask expectations with the wording in salary expectation questions, and keep history out of notes; see what not to write in interview notes.

For the other states, see salary history ban states.