Virginia Human Rights Act

This bill updates and reworks four sections of the Code of Virginia relating to Human Rights.

• Code of Virginia: Collection of all the laws and rules in the state of Virginia. It organizes these laws by topic, like education, transportation, or health, so people can easily find and understand the rules that affect them. It’s like the official rulebook for how things are done in Virginia.

• This bill stops discrimination based on whether someone is a citizen or immigrant.

  • Discrimination: Treating someone unfairly or differently just because of who they are, like their skin color, where they're from, if they’re disabled, or because of their gender.

• Aims to protect people from unfair discrimination based on: race, color, religion, national origin, citizenship or immigration, sex, pregnancy, age, whether they are married, sexuality, gender, military participation, and disability 

  • Illegal discrimination includes denying services based on these things.

• Breaking Virginia or national discrimination laws counts illegal discrimination 

• The bill does not stop programs or services for people based on disability or age 

• There are some exceptions for private clubs and religious groups.

• Discrimination rules also cover rules for when someone has other people working for them 

  • It is illegal to discriminate in hiring, employing, referring, and training people for work

• The bill explains certain times where it’s okay to treat people differently

• The bill lays out rules for reasonable accommodations for people who are disabled or pregnant

  • Reasonable accommodation: A change or adjustment so a disabled person can do something, like go to school, work, or use a building. For example, letting them use a ramp instead of stairs or giving extra time to take a test. It’s about making things fair for everyone.

• The bill says no one should get special treatment just because of where a person comes from or their background.

• There are exceptions for jobs with religious organizations related to their tasks.