Executive Summary

• What’s new: Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed Senate Bill 170 into law, expanding Virginia’s existing restrictions on noncompetition agreements.
• Why it matters: Employers in violation of the new law may be subject to civil actions brought by former employees and civil penalties.
• What to do next: Employers should review and revise noncompetition and nonsolicitation agreement templates applicable to employees located in Virginia to comply with the law.

__________

On April 13, 2026, Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) signed into law Senate Bill 170 (the Act), which amends Virginia’s existing restrictions on employee noncompetition agreements. Effective July 1, 2026, the Act makes noncompetition agreements unenforceable when an employer terminates an employee without cause and the employee does not receive severance pay or other prior disclosed monetary compensation.

The Act applies only to agreements entered into, amended or renewed on or after July 1, 2026, and is not retroactive. The previous iteration of the statute only prohibited noncompetition agreements with “low-wage employees,” which it defines as (i) employees with average weekly earnings below the commonwealth’s set average weekly wage, (ii) employees entitled to overtime compensation for hours worked in excess of 40 hours in one workweek, (iii) interns, students, apprentices, or trainees, paid or unpaid, working for educational experience and (iv) independent contractors compensated...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMifkFVX3lxTE9rM0pJXzB1UlFXSEJHTzBVWk9U...