Virginia ends farmworker wage exclusion
Virginia’s governor signed a bill ending a decades‑old exclusion that had allowed farm employers to avoid paying minimum wage, so farmworkers will now receive at least the state minimum. ( )
Virginia farmworkers will be covered by the state minimum wage after Governor Abigail Spanberger signed Senate Bill 121 on April 8. (lis.virginia.gov) The bill removes an exemption for “farm laborers or farm employees” from Virginia’s minimum wage law. The Legislative Information System lists it as Chapter 358, approved April 8 and effective July 1, 2026. (lis.virginia.gov) Virginia’s current minimum wage is $12.77 an hour, according to the 2026 state wage poster from the Department of Labor and Industry. A separate law signed April 9 will raise that floor to $13.75 on January 1, 2027, and to $15 on January 1, 2028. (doli.virginia.gov, virginiamercury.com) The farmworker bill had been tried before. Delegate Adele McClure said the General Assembly had passed similar legislation twice since 2024, and former Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed both efforts. (virginiamercury.com) Supporters tied the exemption to older labor carveouts that left farmworkers outside basic wage protections. Radio IQ reported the exclusion dated back to the 1930s, and Virginia Mercury said farm laborers had been exempt under the Virginia Minimum Wage Act since it was adopted in 1975. (wvtf.org, virginiamercury.com) Before this change, farm employers still had to meet the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The state bill lifts the floor for covered workers above that federal baseline. (virginiamercury.com) The votes were close in Richmond. Senate Bill 121 passed the Senate 21-19 on February 17 and the House 63-35 on March 3 before reaching Spanberger’s desk. (lis.virginia.gov) Agriculture is Virginia’s largest private industry, supporting more than 381,800 jobs, according to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services figures cited during the debate. Virginia Mercury also reported that farm laborers contribute 9.3 percent of the state’s gross domestic product. (virginiamercury.com) Backers said many farmers already pay above the minimum and argued the law is aimed at employers who use the exemption to underpay workers. Radio IQ reported that the Department of Labor and Industry expects more than 300 claims a year and may need added staff to enforce the change. (wvtf.org, lis.blob.core.windows.net) The change closes one of the last big gaps in Virginia’s wage law. For farmworkers who harvest and pack food across the state, the legal pay floor is now the same one that applies to most other workers. (governor.virginia.gov, lis.virginia.gov)
