Virginia: unused vacation when employment ends

Virginia's wage statute lists what counts as wages and does not name vacation or paid leave. On termination an employee must be paid all wages due for work performed, by the date they would otherwise have been paid.

Each answer traces to the lines quoted below.

What the source says

• Section 40.1-29 defines wages as any remuneration an employer owes an employee, including hourly wages, minimum wages, piece rate wages, day rates, salaries, overtime wages, legally required prevailing wages, commissions, tips, bonuses, and damages for misclassification.
• That enumeration does not name vacation, sick leave or other paid time off — so the statute's wage protections do not plainly reach a vacation balance.
• Upon termination of employment an employee shall be paid all wages due for work performed before the termination, and the payment must be made on or before the date on which the employee would have been paid for that work had employment not ended.
• Salaried employees must be paid at least once each month, and employees paid at an hourly rate at least once every two weeks or twice in each month.
• Because the statute is silent on paid leave, a Virginia payout rests on the employer's own written policy or contract, and the federal floor applies: the Fair Labor Standards Act does not require payment for time not worked.

Sources

What 80 hours a year looks like on a biweekly schedule

The bar below is not specific to Virginia law — it shows the mechanic every schedule shares. Eighty hours a year across 26 paychecks is 3.08 hours a period. With no ceiling the balance climbs for the whole year.

Closing balance after a year: 80.08 hours.

Does Virginia require my employer to pay out unused vacation?

Virginia's wage statute lists what counts as wages and does not name vacation or paid leave. On termination an employee must be paid all wages due for work performed, by the date they would otherwise have been paid.

Can a policy in Virginia erase vacation I already earned?

On use-it-or-lose-it, the source read for this page puts Virginia at: No statute found. The quoted lines on this page are the basis for that, and anything the source did not settle is listed as not established.

Where did these lines come from?

From Virginia Code § 40.1-29 — Time and medium of payment; withholding wages; Vacation Leave — U.S. Department of Labor. Each one was opened and read rather than summarised from another site, and the links are on this page.

Is this legal advice?

No. This page quotes public sources so you can read them yourself. It is not legal advice and it does not replace your employer’s written policy or a lawyer in your jurisdiction.