98 cents an hour. On 40 staff that is $81,536, and it happens again a year later.
The minimum wage steps to $13.75 on January 1 and $15.00 the January after. The tipped cash wage does not move, so the credit an employer relies on gets bigger, and so does the shortfall owed when tips fall short.
Virginia’s minimum wage is $12.77. On January 1 it becomes $13.75. Twelve months after that, $15.00, and from January 2029 it moves with the consumer price index and never goes down.
That is HB 1 and SB 1, Chapters 350 and 351 of the 2026 Acts of Assembly, written into § 40.1-28.10.
The number people quote is 98 cents.
The arithmetic
One full-time employee at 2,080 hours a year: $2,038.40.
| Minimum-wage staff | January 1, 2027 | And again January 1, 2028 |
|---|---|---|
| 10 full-time | $20,384 | $26,000 |
| 20 full-time | $40,768 | $52,000 |
| 40 full-time | $81,536 | $104,000 |
| 75 full-time | $152,880 | $195,000 |
Those are base wages only. Add roughly 7.65% for the employer share of FICA, plus unemployment insurance and any workers’ compensation premium that rides on payroll. On the 40-person line, FICA alone adds about $6,200, so the real number is closer to $87,700 in year one.
And then it happens again. From $13.75 to $15.00 is $1.25, a larger step than the one arriving in January. An operator budgeting only for 2027 is budgeting for the smaller half.
The tipped math moves even though the tipped wage does not
The tipped cash wage stays at the federal $2.13. It is not indexed and it is not going up.
What changes is the size of the credit an employer can claim:
| Cash wage | Minimum | Maximum tip credit | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Now | $2.13 | $12.77 | $10.64 |
| January 1, 2027 | $2.13 | $13.75 | $11.62 |
| January 1, 2028 | $2.13 | $15.00 | $12.87 |
That looks like good news and it is not, quite. A larger credit means a larger gap the employer has to close whenever tips fall short. The make-up obligation is per pay period, and a slow February on a $12.87 credit costs more than a slow February on a $10.64 credit.
The tip-credit notice has to be accurate, and the numbers on it change on January 1. The overtime premium for tipped staff is calculated on the full minimum wage, not the $2.13, the single most common wage finding in published Virginia restaurant cases.
Overtime is where the multiplier bites
Overtime is 1.5 times the regular rate, so every step in the floor is magnified by half again on every hour past 40.
At $13.75 the overtime rate is $20.63, against $19.16 today. On a kitchen running 10 overtime hours a week across four cooks, that is roughly $3,000 a year in additional premium on top of the base increase, on four people.
The published Virginia restaurant wage cases are almost entirely back-of-house overtime, not tips: Chicanos Cocina Bar and Grill in Richmond paid $172,392 for 21 workers, and Food for Thought in Williamsburg paid $205,180 plus $50,034 in penalties for 62 workers, both for straight-timing kitchen staff.
Since July 1, tips are inside the statutory definition of wages under § 40.1-29, a knowing violation carries treble damages, and the cure window is 14 days from notice.
The under-16 exemption
Under § 40.1-28.9, anyone under 16, and any full-time student under 18 working 20 hours a week or less, sits outside the Virginia minimum wage entirely. Federal $7.25 still applies.
That survived the 2026 amendments untouched. Virginia’s child labor rules are strict and got more expensive in 2024, with a civil penalty floor of $500 per violation and up to $25,000 where a child is seriously hurt. Sixteen and seventeen year olds may not touch a power-driven meat slicer, which is how a Jersey Mike’s franchisee in Ashburn, South Riding, Springfield and Sterling ended up paying $108,161.
For a student running a host stand fifteen hours a week, the exemption applies.
