Getting Paid
Va. Code 40.1-29 — regular paydays, the final check, and triple wages for knowing nonpayment
In Virginia, employers pay salaried employees at least once a month and hourly employees at least every two weeks or twice a month. When employment ends, all wages due are paid on or before the date they would have been paid had the employment continued.
- No part of wages may be withheld except for taxes or as the law provides, without the employee's written and signed authorization.
- Each pay date comes with a paystub or online statement showing the hours worked where pay is hourly, the rate, gross wages, and each deduction.
- No employee except executive personnel can be required to sign an agreement forfeiting wages for time worked.
Double the wages owed, or triple when the failure was knowing. An employee can sue for unpaid wages, and the court awards the wages, an equal amount as liquidated damages, prejudgment interest, and reasonable attorney fees and costs. If the employer knowingly failed to pay, the award is triple the wages due. The action is brought within three years.
Willfully or fraudulently failing to pay wages, without a bona fide dispute, is also a Class 1 misdemeanor under $10,000 and a Class 6 felony at $10,000 or more.
Sources for this section (1)
- Va. Code 40.1-29 — Time and medium of payment; withholding wages
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Virginia attorney.