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June 22, 2023
Effective July 1, 2023, covered employers in Virginia must provide eligible employees with unpaid leave to donate one or more of the employee’s organs, including bone marrow, to be transplanted into another person. See 2022 Va. SB 1086.
The law covers employers who have 50 or more employees, and covers employees who have worked for the employer for at least 12 months and for 1,250 hours in the previous 12 months.
Employees must provide written verification from a physician that the employee is an organ or bone marrow donor and that a medical necessity exists for the donation.
Organ donors may take leave for up to 60 business days in any 12-month period. Bone marrow donors may take leave for up to 30 business days in any 12-month period.
During leave, employers must maintain the employee’s health insurance coverage as if the employee had not taken leave. Following leave, the employer must restore the employee to the same position or a position equivalent in pay and benefits, and may not consider the leave to be a break in service for purposes of determining the employee’s right to salary adjustments, seniority, paid leave, or other benefits.
The law expressly prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who request organ or bone marrow donation leave or who take such leave.
Covered Virginia employers should update their employment policies to address organ and bone marrow donation leave.
*Special thanks to Brooke Palma, our Office Administrator, for her contributions to this article.
The author of this article, Patricia Tsipras, is a member of the Bar of Pennsylvania. This article is designed to provide one perspective regarding recent legal developments, and is not intended to serve as legal advice in Virginia, or Pennsylvania, or any other jurisdiction, nor does it establish an attorney-client relationship with any reader of the article where one does not exist. Always consult an attorney with specific legal issues.
