Effective July 1, 2023, employers in Virginia with at least 50 employees are required to provide eligible employees with unpaid leave to donate an organ, including bone marrow. Eligible employees are those who, at the time of requesting organ donation leave, have been employed by the same employer for at least 12 months and 1,250 hours during the previous 12 months.

The law allows eligible employees to take up to 60 business days of unpaid leave to donate an organ and up to 30 business days to donate bone marrow in any 12-month period. To take donor leave, eligible employees must provide written physician verification to the employer.

The law requires employers to maintain coverage of any health benefit plan for the duration of the organ donor leave. Further, employers are prohibited from counting any period of organ donor leave as a break in service for the purpose of an employee’s salary and benefits.

Employees who take organ donor leave must be restored to the same position they held prior to the leave or an equivalent position with the same pay, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment. Employers are prohibited from retaliating against an employee for requesting or taking organ donation leave.

(S 1086 was approved by the governor on April 12, 2023)