Virginia Human Rights Act Attorneys in Northern Virginia
Virginia Changed the Rules at Work. Do You Know Where You Stand?
Since July 1, 2026, the Virginia Human Rights Act reaches any employer with five or more employees and gives workers two years to act. Whether you were pushed out because of who you are, or you run the business that just received a charge, we know how the new law works in Loudoun, Fairfax, and across Northern Virginia.
✓ Employees and Employers
✓ Current as of July 1, 2026
✓ State and Federal Claims
Start Here
Where Do You Stand Under the New Law?
Two quick answers. Nothing is sent or saved. You get a plain reading of what the Act means for your situation and the clock you are on.
First, which side of the desk are you on?
What happened?
This is the core of the Act.
If your race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, pregnancy, age, military status, disability, or ethnic or national origin was even one motivating factor in the decision, § 2.2-3905 calls it an unlawful discriminatory practice. The other reasons your employer gives do not erase that. Since July 1, 2026 this protection applies at any employer with five or more employees, not just the large ones.
Your clock: two years to file with the Virginia Office of Civil Rights. 300 days if you also want federal claims through the EEOC. Sooner is better. Witnesses move on and records get purged.
Schedule a ConsultationHarassment counts when it changes the conditions of your job.
The Act protects the terms, conditions, and privileges of employment, the same words federal courts read to cover a hostile work environment, and § 2.2-3902 treats conduct that violates federal discrimination law as a violation of the Act. Save the messages. Write down dates while they are fresh. Report it in writing if you safely can, because how your employer responds becomes part of the case.
Your clock: two years with the Office of Civil Rights, 300 days with the EEOC. Ongoing conduct raises its own timing questions, so do not assume an old incident is out of reach.
Schedule a ConsultationRefusing to talk is itself a violation.
For disability (§ 2.2-3905.1) and for pregnancy, childbirth, and lactation (§ 2.2-3909), your employer must engage in a timely, good faith interactive process, cannot force you onto leave when another accommodation would work, and cannot deny you a job or promotion because accommodation would be needed. Religious dress, grooming, and symbols are protected as well.
Your clock: a pregnancy accommodation claim can go straight to court within two years, no agency charge required. Disability and other claims run through the Office of Civil Rights first. Different paths, different clocks. We map yours.
Schedule a ConsultationRetaliation is a separate claim, and often the stronger one.
§ 2.2-3905(B)(7) makes it unlawful to punish anyone for opposing discrimination, filing a charge, testifying, or helping with an investigation. In most cases you do not have to prove the original discrimination to prove the retaliation. The sequence is the evidence: what you reported, when you reported it, and what changed afterward.
Your clock: two years with the Office of Civil Rights, 300 days with the EEOC, measured from the retaliatory act, not the original complaint.
Schedule a ConsultationYou may not be out of time anymore.
Before July 1, 2026, a state charge had to be filed within 300 days. Now the window with the Office of Civil Rights is two years from the act. The federal 300 day clock has not changed, so a claim in this range is likely a Virginia claim only, and Virginia claims carry no cap on compensatory damages.
One honest caution: whether the new window reaches conduct from before July 1, 2026 is a question the courts have not settled. Bring us the dates and we will tell you plainly where you stand.
Schedule a ConsultationWhat landed on your desk?
The clock is running, and so is the record.
A charge is an investigation, not a verdict. Preserve every relevant document today, take no action against the person who filed, and do not let a manager respond on their own. The position statement you file becomes the story you live with through mediation, a reasonable cause finding, and a jury if it gets that far. We handle the response and the internal investigation behind it.
Watch for: a dual filed charge, which means state and federal claims are both alive, and a 180 day mark after which the employee can go to court even without a notice from the agency.
Schedule a ConsultationYes. As of July 1, 2026, it does.
The old 15 employee threshold is gone. If you employed five or more people for each working day in 20 or more calendar weeks this year or last, every protected class and every kind of employment decision is now in play, not just terminations. Hiring, pay, scheduling, promotions, discipline, and how complaints get handled. Households that employ even one domestic worker are covered too.
Next step: a review of how you hire, discipline, and document is the least expensive insurance you will buy this year. Many small employers are one missing posting and one undocumented termination away from a charge.
Schedule a ConsultationStart the conversation, in writing, now.
For disability and for pregnancy or lactation, the Act requires a timely, good faith interactive process. Refusing to engage, forcing leave when another option exists, or denying a promotion because accommodation would be needed are each separate violations. Document the request, the options considered, and the reason for the answer. Undue hardship is a real defense, but you have to be able to prove it with facts about your operation, not a feeling.
Also due: written notice of accommodation rights within 10 days of learning an employee has a disability or is pregnant.
Schedule a ConsultationDecide it on the record you would want a jury to read.
Under the Act, a protected trait only has to be a motivating factor, not the only reason. Before you act, ask three questions. Is the reason documented before today? Was the same rule applied the same way to others? Does the timing sit next to a pregnancy announcement, a medical leave, a complaint, or a birthday past 40?
Two years is a long memory. If any of those answers is unclear, call before the meeting, not after.
Schedule a ConsultationTwo postings are mandatory, and most handbooks are missing them.
Sections 2.2-3905.1 and 2.2-3909 require covered employers to post, and to include in the handbook, notice of employees' rights to reasonable accommodation for disability and for pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions. The notice must be handed to new hires at the start and to any employee within 10 days of the employer learning of a disability or pregnancy.
What we do: rewrite the handbook so the policy, the posting, and the manager training all say the same thing, and add the complaint procedure that becomes your best defense later.
Handbook and Compliance HelpGeneral information, not legal advice. Every deadline above depends on your facts. Talk to an attorney before relying on any of it.
Effective July 1, 2026
A Bigger Law With a Longer Memory
5+
Employees. The threshold for every VHRA employment claim, down from 15 (§ 2.2-3905)
2 Years
To file with Virginia's Office of Civil Rights, up from 300 days (§ 2.2-3907)
Uncapped
Compensatory damages, decided by a court or jury, plus attorney fees (§ 2.2-3908)
90 Days
To file suit once your notice of the right to sue arrives (§ 2.2-3908)
Source: Code of Virginia §§ 2.2-3900 through 2.2-3909, as amended by 2026 Acts of Assembly, chapters 950 and 1119.
Two bills signed in 2026 turned a law that mostly reached large employers into one that reaches the eight person dental office in Leesburg and the twelve person contractor in Fairfax. The same bills more than doubled the time a worker has to act. For employees, doors that were closed are open. For employers, a decision made this year can still be questioned in 2028.
Who the Act Protects, and Who It Now Reaches
The Virginia Human Rights Act, Chapter 39 of Title 2.2 of the Code of Virginia, is the Commonwealth's own answer to workplace discrimination. It names more protected traits than federal law, including marital status and military status, it writes sexual orientation and gender identity into the statute itself, and it now covers the small employers that federal discrimination law mostly leaves out.
It is enforced two ways. The Office of Civil Rights inside the Attorney General's office investigates complaints and tries to conciliate them. When that does not resolve it, a private party can sue in General District Court or Circuit Court for compensatory and punitive damages, attorney fees, reinstatement, and an injunction. A jury can decide the case.
We work both sides of that process. We build claims for employees who were pushed out or shut out, and we defend employers who received a charge or want to be compliant before one arrives. Knowing how the other side builds its case is how we build ours.
Schedule a ConsultationWhere We Come In
- ✓ You were fired, demoted, or passed over and a protected trait was part of the reason
- ✓ Your employer has fewer than 15 employees and you were once told nothing could be done
- ✓ You asked for a pregnancy, disability, or religious accommodation and were refused
- ✓ You reported discrimination and the treatment got worse
- ✓ Your business received a charge from the Office of Civil Rights, the EEOC, or a county commission
- ✓ You run a company with five or more employees and need policies that match the law as it reads today
Before and After July 1, 2026
What Changed, and Why It Matters Here
Most of what you will read online about this law is still describing the old version. This is the current one.
Who Is Covered
Before
Employers with 15 or more employees for most claims. Smaller employers could be sued only for a discriminatory firing, and age based firings only at employers with fewer than 20.
Now
Five or more employees, every protected class, every kind of employment decision. The small employer carve outs are repealed. Senate Bill 637, chapter 950.
How Long You Have
Before
300 days from the discriminatory act to file with the Office of Civil Rights, matching the federal EEOC deadline.
Now
Two years to file with the Office of Civil Rights. The federal 300 day deadline is unchanged, so the two clocks no longer match. Chapters 950 and 1119.
Where You Can Start
Before
The 180 day path to court, for cases where no notice issued, ran only from a filing with the state Office of Civil Rights.
Now
That path also runs from a filing with a local human rights commission, which in Northern Virginia means Fairfax, Arlington, Alexandria, or Prince William. House Bill 925, chapter 1119.
Twelve Traits the Act Puts Off Limits
An employer with five or more employees cannot use any of these to hire, fire, pay, promote, schedule, discipline, or classify. Under § 2.2-3905(B)(6), the trait only has to be a motivating factor. Other reasons can exist alongside it and the decision is still unlawful.
Race
Includes hair texture, hair type, and protective hairstyles such as braids, locks, and twists.
Color
Skin tone, which the Act treats separately from race.
Religion
Includes religious dress, grooming, and the carrying or display of religious items or symbols.
Sex
Includes pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions under § 2.2-3901.
Sexual Orientation
Actual or perceived heterosexuality, bisexuality, or homosexuality.
Gender Identity
Gender related identity, appearance, or characteristics, regardless of sex designated at birth.
Marital Status
Whether you are single, married, separated, divorced, or widowed.
Pregnancy and Childbirth
Including lactation, with a separate accommodation duty under § 2.2-3909.
Age
Forty and older, now under the same five employee threshold as every other trait.
Military Status
Service members, reservists, veterans, and certain dependents.
Disability
Physical or mental impairment, with a separate accommodation duty under § 2.2-3905.1.
Ethnic or National Origin
Ethnic origin was added to the Act by the General Assembly in 2024.
And One More: Retaliation
Punishing anyone for opposing discrimination, filing a charge, testifying, or helping an investigation is its own violation under § 2.2-3905(B)(7), and in most cases it stands whether or not the underlying complaint is ever proven.
The Process
How a Claim Moves From Complaint to Courtroom
Five stages, three possible starting points, and at least three clocks. Missing any one of them can end a strong case.
1
The Act Occurs
A firing, a demotion, a refused accommodation, a pattern of harassment. The state clock starts here and runs two years. The federal clock runs 300 days.
2
The Filing
A sworn complaint with the Office of Civil Rights in Richmond, the EEOC, or a local commission in Fairfax, Arlington, Alexandria, or Prince William. Dual filing preserves state and federal claims together.
3
Investigation and Mediation
The agency serves the charge, the employer answers, and both sides can agree to mediate. If the agency finds reasonable cause, it tries to conciliate before closing the file.
4
The Notice
A notice of the right to sue from the Office or the EEOC, or one you request after 180 days. From receipt, 90 days to file in court. Miss it and the charge is dismissed with prejudice.
5
The Courtroom
General District Court for claims up to $50,000, or Circuit Court for a jury, an injunction, and full damages. Most serious claims belong in Circuit Court.
What We Handle
Virginia Human Rights Act Matters We Take On
The common thread is a decision at work that should have been about the work, and was not.
State or Federal
Why the Virginia Claim Is Often the Stronger One
The same facts can support a state claim, a federal claim, or both. Choosing well is half the strategy.
| Virginia Human Rights Act | Federal Law (Title VII, ADA, ADEA) | |
|---|---|---|
| Employer size | Five or more employees. Any household with one or more domestic workers. | 15 or more for Title VII and the ADA. 20 or more for the ADEA. |
| Deadline to file a charge | Two years from the act, with the Office of Civil Rights. | 300 days from the act, with the EEOC, for workplaces in Virginia. |
| Protected traits | Twelve, including marital status and military status. Sexual orientation and gender identity are written into the statute. | Race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, and genetic information. |
| Compensatory damages | No cap in the Act. | Combined with punitive damages and capped between $50,000 and $300,000 depending on employer size. |
| Punitive damages | Available. Virginia's general cap at § 8.01-38.1 limits them to $350,000. | Inside the same combined federal cap. |
| Where it is heard | General District Court or Circuit Court. Jury available in Circuit Court. | Federal court, or state court subject to removal to federal court. |
| Proof standard | The protected trait need only be a motivating factor, for every class including age. | Age claims require proof that age was the deciding reason. |
Sources: Code of Virginia §§ 2.2-3905, 2.2-3907, 2.2-3908, 8.01-38.1, 16.1-77; 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e(b), 1981a(b)(3), 12111(5)(A); 29 U.S.C. § 630(b).
Northern Virginia
Four Localities Have Their Own Human Rights Office. Loudoun Does Not.
Where you work changes where you file, how fast the case moves, and since July 1, 2026, how soon you can get to court.
Fairfax County
Office of Human Rights and Equity Programs. Dual files with the EEOC, so one filing preserves state and federal claims.
Arlington County
Office of Human Rights and Human Rights Commission. Takes employment, housing, and public accommodation complaints.
City of Alexandria
Office of Human Rights, enforcing a local code that dates to 1975 and working under contract with the EEOC.
Prince William County
Human Rights Office and Commission, created in 1993, investigating under the county's own ordinance.
Loudoun County
No local commission. Workers and employers in Leesburg, Ashburn, Sterling, and Purcellville file with the Virginia Office of Civil Rights or the EEOC. Our Leesburg office handles both.
If You Sign the Paychecks, Read This Part Twice
The 2026 amendments added no new substantive duty for large employers. They handed the existing duties to thousands of small ones, and gave every employee more than twice the time to act.
Count Your Heads
Five or more employees for each working day in 20 or more calendar weeks, this year or last, and the Act applies to you. The Act borrows Title VII's counting language, and under that approach part time staff on the payroll count.
Document Before You Decide
With a two year window, the contemporaneous note is the whole defense. Write the reason down before the meeting, in the same words you would use to a jury.
Post and Hand Out the Notices
Disability and pregnancy accommodation rights must be posted, printed in the handbook, given to new hires, and delivered within 10 days of learning of a disability or pregnancy.
Run the Interactive Process
Every accommodation request gets a timely, good faith conversation, alternatives if the first ask does not work, and a written record of all of it.
Why Shin Law Office
Why Employees and Employers Trust Us With This Law
Both Sides of the Table
We file charges and we answer them. Knowing how a defense gets built makes our claims tighter, and knowing how claims get built makes our defenses smarter.
Current, Not Recycled
Most of what is online about this law still says 15 employees and 300 days. We work from the statute as it reads today, and we update when it changes again.
Every Clock, Mapped
State, federal, and local deadlines run on different calendars. We identify all of them on day one and decide where filing first gives you the most room.
Built for a Jury
The Act lets a jury decide. We prepare every case, from the first document request, as if it will.
What to Expect
How Working With Us Begins
1
Consultation
Tell us what happened and when. We identify the protected trait, the adverse action, the employer's size, and every deadline in play.
2
Map the Clocks
We decide where to file, whether to dual file with the EEOC, and whether a local commission gives you a faster path to court.
3
File or Respond
We draft the charge or the position statement, gather the comparators and documents, and manage the investigation and any mediation.
4
Resolve or Try It
We push for the strongest resolution available and prepare from the start to present the case to a Circuit Court jury if that is what it takes.
Attorney Insight
"For years I sat across from people who worked at eight and ten person companies and had to explain that Virginia law reached them only if they had been fired outright. Denied a promotion, harassed, cut out of the schedule, and the answer was that federal law mostly stops at 15 employees and Virginia had nothing to add. That conversation ended on July 1. The lesson for employers is just as sharp. Two years is a long memory. The performance note you did not write this spring may be the document you wish you had in 2028."
Anthony I. Shin, Esq.
Founder, Shin Law Office
Common Questions
Answers Before You Call
What is the Virginia Human Rights Act?
Chapter 39 of Title 2.2 of the Code of Virginia. It prohibits discrimination in employment, public accommodations, and education based on a list of protected traits, creates a complaint process through the Office of Civil Rights in the Attorney General's office, and lets private parties sue for damages. The 2020 Virginia Values Act gave it real remedies, and the 2026 amendments extended it to small employers and doubled the filing window.
Does the Act apply to my employer?
If the business had five or more employees for each working day in 20 or more calendar weeks this year or last, yes, for every protected class and every kind of employment decision. Households that employ even one domestic worker are covered. One wrinkle: the disability accommodation section, § 2.2-3905.1, still reads "more than five," so that specific duty starts at six. Religious organizations keep an exemption for employing people of their own faith.
What changed on July 1, 2026?
Two things that matter most. The employer threshold dropped from 15 employees to five for every claim, ending the old rule that let small employer claims proceed only for a discriminatory firing. And the deadline to file with the Office of Civil Rights went from 300 days to two years. A third change lets a worker go to court 180 days after filing with a local human rights commission if no notice of the right to sue has issued.
How long do I have to file?
Two years from the discriminatory act to file with the Office of Civil Rights. If you also want federal claims under Title VII, the ADA, or the ADEA, the EEOC charge still has to be filed within 300 days. Once you receive a notice of your right to sue from either agency, you have 90 days to file in court. A pregnancy accommodation claim under § 2.2-3909 can go straight to court within two years, with no agency charge.
Do I have to file with an agency before I can sue?
For most claims, yes. You file with the Office of Civil Rights, the EEOC, or a local human rights commission, and you sue within 90 days of the notice of your right to sue. If 180 days pass without a notice, you can request one or proceed. The exception is a pregnancy accommodation claim, which does not require a charge.
What can I recover if I prove my claim?
A court or jury can award compensatory damages with no cap in the Act, plus punitive damages, which Virginia's general cap at § 8.01-38.1 limits to $350,000. The court can add attorney fees and costs, order reinstatement, and enjoin the practice. Federal law caps compensatory and punitive damages together between $50,000 and $300,000 depending on employer size, which is one reason the Virginia claim can be the stronger one.
Is harassment covered even though the Act does not use that word?
Yes, in practice. The Act protects the compensation, terms, conditions, and privileges of employment, the same phrase federal courts read to cover a hostile work environment, and § 2.2-3902 provides that conduct violating a federal discrimination statute is an unlawful discriminatory practice under the Act.
My employer has nine people. A year ago I was told Virginia law could not help me. Is that still true?
No. Under the old law, an employer of nine could be reached only for a discriminatory firing. Since July 1, 2026, it is covered for everything: hiring, pay, promotion, discipline, harassment, accommodation, and retaliation. Whether the new two year window reaches conduct that happened before July 1, 2026 is unsettled, so bring us the dates and we will give you a straight answer.
Can my manager be sued personally?
The Act defines an employer to include "any agent of such a person." How far that reaches an individual supervisor is still being worked out by the courts, so we evaluate it on your facts rather than promise an answer either way.
Is menopause a protected condition under the Act?
Not by name. The General Assembly passed bills in 2026 to add menopause and perimenopause, and the Governor vetoed them in May 2026, stating that existing age and sex protections already apply to that discrimination. Those existing protections are where a claim would live today.
I am an employer and a charge just arrived. What do I do first?
Preserve everything, take no action against the person who filed, and route every communication through counsel. Then respond on time with a position statement that tells a consistent, documented story. The investigation, any mediation, and a later lawsuit all build on that first response, so it has to be right the first time.
Does the Act apply outside the workplace?
Yes. It also covers places of public accommodation, which since July 1, 2026 expressly includes educational institutions, and the Attorney General can bring pattern or practice actions with civil penalties. This page focuses on the workplace, which is where most of the claims we see arise.
Find Out Where You Stand
The law reaches further than it did a year ago and the clock runs longer. Whether you are bringing a claim or answering one, the record is being built right now. Let us look at yours. Serving Leesburg, Fairfax, and all of Northern Virginia.
Prefer to talk now? Reach Anthony I. Shin, Esq. at 571-445-6565.
Based in Loudoun County and serving clients across Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland, we know that when everything’s on the line, the right attorney doesn’t just make a difference, they determine the outcome.
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Copyright © 2026 Shin Law Office, PLC. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2026 Shin Law Office, PLC. All rights reserved.
Reproduction of any content on this site is prohibited except for individual, non-commercial, informational use. This limited permission does not allow modification, distribution, or incorporation of any content into other works or publications in any medium. You may not reproduce or distribute content from this site to any third party.