republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/sb-480.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Employment; covenants not to compete, definition of low-wage employees, civil penalty."
description: "Covenants not to compete; low-wage employees; civil penalty. Prohibits an employer from entering into, enforcing, or threatening to enforce a covenant not to compete between the employer and a low-wage employee. The employer is subject to a civil penalty of $10,000 per violation. The bill defines \"low-wage employee\" as either (i) an employee, intern, student, apprentice, or trainee whose average weekly earnings are less than the average weekly wage of the Commonwealth or who is employed without pay or (ii) an independent contractor who is compensated for his services at an hourly rate that is less than the median hourly wage for the Commonwealth for all occupations as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. The bill defines \"covenant not to compete\" as an agreement that restrains, prohibits, or otherwise restricts an individual's ability to compete with his former employer. The bill allows any low-wage employee subject to such a covenant not to compete to bring a civil action against an employer and seek appropriate relief, including enjoining the conduct of any person or employer, ordering payment of liquidated damages, and awarding lost compensation, damages, and reasonable attorney fees and costs. The bill provides that if the court finds a violation of the bill's provisions, the plaintiff is entitled to recover reasonable costs, including reasonable fees for expert witnesses, and attorney fees from the former employer or other person who attempts to enforce a covenant not to compete against such plaintiff. The bill requires all employers to post in the workplace a notice of the prohibition or a summary of the notice approved by the Department of Labor and Industry and provides that an employer is subject to a warning for a first offense and to a civil penalty for a subsequent offense for failure to post such notice or approved summary. The provisions of the bill are applicable to covenants not to compete entered into on or after July 1, 2020. This bill is identical to HB 330."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 480"
citation: "Virginia SB 480 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bill DeSteph"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 46
vote_count: 11
first_action: "2020-01-07"
last_action: "2020-04-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7b65ac9d-26dc-40b0-9d23-94a93492814b"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB480"
source_hash: "df0beb3347ec1a238ebcb358c2560901ca5c1fd168e182b5b7990096f0690400"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia SB 480 (2020) — Employment; covenants not to compete, definition of low-wage employees, civil penalty.

Covenants not to compete; low-wage employees; civil penalty. Prohibits an employer from entering into, enforcing, or threatening to enforce a covenant not to compete between the employer and a low-wage employee. The employer is subject to a civil penalty of $10,000 per violation. The bill defines "low-wage employee" as either (i) an employee, intern, student, apprentice, or trainee whose average weekly earnings are less than the average weekly wage of the Commonwealth or who is employed without pay or (ii) an independent contractor who is compensated for his services at an hourly rate that is less than the median hourly wage for the Commonwealth for all occupations as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. The bill defines "covenant not to compete" as an agreement that restrains, prohibits, or otherwise restricts an individual's ability to compete with his former employer. The bill allows any low-wage employee subject to such a covenant not to compete to bring a civil action against an employer and seek appropriate relief, including enjoining the conduct of any person or employer, ordering payment of liquidated damages, and awarding lost compensation, damages, and reasonable attorney fees and costs. The bill provides that if the court finds a violation of the bill's provisions, the plaintiff is entitled to recover reasonable costs, including reasonable fees for expert witnesses, and attorney fees from the former employer or other person who attempts to enforce a covenant not to compete against such plaintiff. The bill requires all employers to post in the workplace a notice of the prohibition or a summary of the notice approved by the Department of Labor and Industry and provides that an employer is subject to a warning for a first offense and to a civil penalty for a subsequent offense for failure to post such notice or approved summary. The provisions of the bill are applicable to covenants not to compete entered into on or after July 1, 2020. This bill is identical to HB 330.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0949)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0949)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB480ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB480ER)
3. **Engrossed by Senate as amended SB480E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB480E)
4. **Impact statement from DPB (SB480)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB480)
5. **Impact statement from DPB (SB480H1)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB480H1)
6. **Impact statement from DPB (SB480S1)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB480S1)

## Votes

- Reported from Labor and Commerce with substitute (19-Y 0-N) — **19–0** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Passage (80-Y 19-N) — **79–19** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Engrossment reconsidered by Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 1-N) — **39–1** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (34-Y 6-N) — **34–6** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Commerce and Labor (14-Y 1-N) — **14–1** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Agree To (74-Y 20-N) — **73–20** (pass) · lower
- Senate acceded to request (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- House substitute rejected by Senate (0-Y 40-N) — **0–40** (fail) · upper
- Conference report agreed to by Senate (34-Y 6-N) — **34–6** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Bill DeSteph — primary (person)
- Joseph D. Morrissey — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2020-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20103725D `introduction`
- **2020-01-07** Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-23** Impact statement from DPB (SB480)
- **2020-01-27** Reported from Commerce and Labor (14-Y 1-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-29** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-30** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-01-31** Passed by for the day
- **2020-02-03** Engrossment reconsidered by Senate (39-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-03** Reading of amendment waived
- **2020-02-03** Amendment by Senator Petersen agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2020-02-03** Engrossed by Senate as amended SB480E
- **2020-02-03** Printed as engrossed 20103725D-E
- **2020-02-03** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 1-N)
- **2020-02-03** Passed Senate (34-Y 6-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-13** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-13** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-13** Referred to Committee on Labor and Commerce `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-18** Reported from Labor and Commerce with substitute (19-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-18** Committee substitute printed 20108594D-H1 `substitution`
- **2020-02-20** Passed by for the day
- **2020-02-21** Passed by for the day
- **2020-02-24** Impact statement from DPB (SB480H1)
- **2020-02-24** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-24** Committee substitute agreed to 20108594D-H1
- **2020-02-24** Engrossed by House - committee substitute SB480H1
- **2020-02-24** Passed House with substitute (80-Y 19-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-24** VOTE: Passage (80-Y 19-N)
- **2020-02-26** House substitute rejected by Senate (0-Y 40-N)
- **2020-02-27** House insisted on substitute
- **2020-02-27** House requested conference committee
- **2020-03-02** Senate acceded to request (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-03-02** Conferees appointed by Senate
- **2020-03-03** Conferees appointed by House
- **2020-03-04** Amended by conference committee
- **2020-03-04** Conference substitute printed 20109575D-S1
- **2020-03-04** Conference report agreed to by House (74-Y 20-N)
- **2020-03-04** VOTE: Agree To (74-Y 20-N)
- **2020-03-05** Impact statement from DPB (SB480S1)
- **2020-03-07** Conference report agreed to by Senate (34-Y 6-N)
- **2020-03-18** Enrolled
- **2020-03-18** Signed by President
- **2020-03-19** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-20** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 20, 2020
- **2020-03-20** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
- **2020-03-23** Impact statement from DPB (SB480ER)
- **2020-04-09** Approved by Governor-Chapter 949 (effective 7/1/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/7b65ac9d-26dc-40b0-9d23-94a93492814b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).