Virginia Just Made History As The First Southern State To Guarantee Paid Family Leave
Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger signed landmark legislation making Virginia the first state in the South to establish a mandatory paid family and medical leave program, a milestone that advocates had been working toward for nearly a decade and one that will benefit more than three million workers across the Commonwealth when it takes effect. Under the new law, Virginia workers at companies with 10 or more employees will be able to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave to welcome a new child, care for a seriously ill family member, or address their own significant health condition, receiving approximately 80 percent of their average weekly wage during their time away. The program will be funded through payroll contributions split between employers and employees, with the Virginia Employment Commission beginning to collect those contributions in April 2028 and benefits becoming available in December 2028. Governor Spanberger, who made the policy a central promise of her campaign, said no one should have to choose between spending time with their newborn and paying their bills, and no one should be forced to return to work while facing a serious illness.
Federal law already requires companies with 50 or more employees to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave, but the absence of a paid requirement has long meant that the protection is largely inaccessible to lower-income workers who cannot afford to stop receiving a paycheck, leaving the policy's protections unevenly distributed across income levels. Virginia's new law fills that gap, covering both full-time and part-time workers and extending the benefit to employees at small businesses that could not previously afford to offer competitive leave packages on their own. Allison Gilbreath, a mother who spent eight years advocating for the legislation and attended the bill signing with her two young children, said being included in the historic moment felt like an honor. The sponsor of the legislation, Delegate Briana Sewell, described the broader impact plainly: when families are stable, communities are stronger, and when workers are supported, businesses are stronger too. Virginia becomes the 15th state, alongside Washington D.C., to establish a paid family and medical leave program, and the first to do so in a region of the country where no state had previously gone there.
