Virginia pay transparency rules raise compliance stakes for Target hiring

Virginia's pay-transparency law takes effect July 1, and Target's Virginia stores will have to treat job postings, interview scripts and onboarding paperwork as compliance documents. HB 636 and SB 215 bar employers from seeking a candidate's wage or salary history and require a good-faith wage, salary or wage range in each public and internal posting. Applicants may still volunteer past pay if they want to support a higher offer, but hiring managers cannot ask for it.

Current and prospective employees can sue within one year of a violation, and the Virginia attorney general can seek civil penalties of $1,000 for a first violation and $5,000 for each later one. Employers get a 15-day safe harbor to fix a deficient posting after notice, which means HR teams need to know exactly which requisitions went live, what range was posted and when a correction was made. Agencies should include a good-faith salary or wage range in all job postings and should not ask for or use an applicant's past pay.

For Target, the operational burden lands during summer hiring and back-to-school planning, when stores from Richmond and Alexandria to Arlington, Norfolk and Virginia Beach are competing for workers. A candidate asking about compensation now needs a clear answer that stays within the posted range, and store leaders need a clean paper trail that shows the posting matched the law.

The same July 1 package also expands Virginia's noncompete limits. SB 170 bars enforcement of noncompetes against employees terminated without cause unless severance or another monetary payment is provided and disclosed when the covenant is signed. HB 627 extends noncompete restrictions to some licensed, registered or certified healthcare professionals. Workers can sue for damages, liquidated damages, attorneys' fees and costs if a covenant violates the new rules.

Wage rules are shifting too. Virginia's adjusted minimum wage is $12.77 an hour as of Jan. 1, 2026, and it is scheduled to rise to $13.75 on Jan. 1, 2027 and $15 on Jan. 1, 2028. The state's 2026 wage-and-hour changes also give employers a good-faith defense if they cure a wage violation within 14 days of notice.