CHARLOTTESVILLE. Va. — The University of Virginia will begin paying all full-time employees at least $15 an hour starting in January 2020, UVA President Jim Ryan announced.

“No one who works at UVA should live in poverty,” he said in a statement in which he made the announcement. “This decision will cover roughly 60 percent of full-time employees who currently earn under $15 an hour. The remaining 40 percent are employed by contractors.”

Ryan said his team would work to eventually extend the $15 minimum salary to contract employees, as well.

“This is legally and logistically more complicated, but our goal is to make it happen,” he said. “In the meantime, we’ll keep working on ways to make a difference on our own, including on the equally pressing topic of affordable housing.”

Minimum wage in Virginia is $7.25 an hour.

This is a developing story.