Georgia Labor Laws

In the US, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) outlines laws to manage the time spent by employees in the workplace, safeguarding their rights and guaranteeing fair pay for their efforts. 

Time management laws in Georgia follow the FLSA. These laws act as directives for employers, keeping them in check, and minimizing any forms of abuse or exploitation.

Employers who contravene these laws face severe legal ramifications, including fines, back pay, and damages. If workers feel that their employer has violated their rights, they can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division for investigation and legal action.

In Georgia, employers are required to follow several laws of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to avoid any kind of workplace discrimination. During the hiring process, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) protects job applicants 40 years of age and older from being unlawfully denied employment based on age. 

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) prohibits discrimination based on genetic information in Georgia. Lastly, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from denying employment opportunities based on race, color, religion, national origin, or sex.

Georgia is a “right-to-work” state, which means that any entity – whether it be a labor organization, union, employer, corporation, or association – cannot force employees to join or refrain from joining a labor organization as a requirement for employment. Additionally, employees cannot be forced to strike or refrain from striking to obtain or maintain employment, nor can any payment or fee be required as a condition of employment. 

As Georgia is also an “at-will” employment state, employers have the right to terminate employment without reason, as long as the termination does not violate the law. The at-will doctrine also allows employees to quit their jobs at any time without penalty.

After termination, employers in Georgia must give an employee’s final paycheck on their next regular payday as per federal law.  However, after the death of an employee who works in a state political or railroad department, an employer must pay a sum not exceeding $2,500 to the employee’s eligible dependent.

Some key labor laws that affect employment in Georgia include: 

• Ban-the-Box Law: State employers in Georgia cannot discriminate against job applicants with criminal records. They cannot modify job advertisements to exclude applicants with criminal histories or inquire about an applicant’s criminal record during the initial hiring process. A background check may only be conducted once a conditional job offer has been extended. 
• Workplace Safety laws: The federal Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) sets workplace health and safety standards for most private employers and their employees in Georgia. OSHA also has the authority to inspect workplaces during working hours to ensure that these standards are being followed. Employers who violate the rules can face penalties of up to $70,000 per violation.
• Whistleblower Protection Act: According to Georgia law, public employers and governmental entities that receive state funds must investigate any complaints from public employees that involve fraud, abuse, or waste under the employer’s supervision. The law also protects the whistleblower’s identity unless the employer deems it necessary to expose. If so, the employee must be notified in writing at least a week before disclosure. Employers cannot prevent employees from reporting violations or retaliate against them for doing so. If employees are discriminated against, the court may order them to be reinstated or given similar positions or compensation for lost wages and benefits.
• Recordkeeping Laws: Georgia employment law requires employers to keep certain employment records for 4 years. These records consist of employee information such as name, social security number, date of hire and work location, address, and wages paid, including payment dates. Additionally, reimbursement and expense information, hours worked, pay period dates, quarterly wages, pay period earnings, and leave days must also be included in these records.
• Health Insurance Continuation Laws: The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) allows employees and their dependents to continue their group health benefits if they left their job voluntarily or were involuntarily terminated. Eligible employees can extend their health coverage for up to 36 months. However, this act only applies to companies that have more than 20 employees.

Georgia’s state minimum wage is currently set at $5.15 per hour, which is lower than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Under the FLSA, employees who are subject to both state and federal minimum wage laws are entitled to the higher rate.

However, certain employers in Georgia must pay their employees the federal minimum wage. These include: 

• Employers who have 5 or fewer employees
• Businesses that have a sales limit of $40,000 per year
• Employers of domestic workers
• A farm owner, sharecropper, or a land renter

Furthermore, tipped employees, high school or college students, newspaper carriers, and employees who work in nonprofit institutions for children or mentally disabled adults are also entitled to earn the federal minimum wage. 

A tipped worker in Georgia is entitled to earn at least $7.25 per hour. However, employers can pay tipped workers a reduced cash wage of $2.13, provided that the employee’s cash wages and tips combine to equal the federal minimum wage. If not, the employer is required to make up the difference.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, there are certain employees who are exempt from being paid the minimum wage. These employees include:

• Executive, administrative, learned, and creative professionals earning $1,128 per week
• Casual babysitters
• Care-takers of the elderly
• Disabled workers
• Federal criminal investigators
• Fishermen
• Domestic workers making wreaths
• Newspaper deliverers
• Seamen on non-American vessels
• Switchboard operators
• Employees in limited–circulation newspaper agencies
  

Employers in Georgia can pay workers aged under 20 $4.25 per hour for the first 90 days of employment, after which they are entitled to the federal minimum wage. Student workers in the state can also be paid 85% of the federal minimum wage. 

Most workers in Georgia must be  paid twice a month, except for those in farming, sawmill, and turpentine industries, or those in positions of authority with stipulated salaries, who may be paid monthly or annually. 

Overtime in Georgia adheres to the overtime regulations of the FLSA. Non-exempt employees who work more than 40 hours in a workweek are entitled to receive additional pay. These additional wages are calculated at 1.5 times the employee’s regular hourly wage for each hour worked overtime. 

Employees receiving the state minimum wage must be paid $7.725 per hour in overtime wages, whereas those employed at the federal minimum wage must receive $10.88 per hour worked overtime.

Certain employees in Georgia do not earn overtime wages, even if they work more than 40 hours in a week. Employees who perform certain job duties and earn at least $1,128 a week (or $58,656 annually) are exempt from receiving overtime pay.  These typically include:

• Executives
• Administrative employees
• Highly compensated employees
• Learned and creative professionals
• Computer employees
• Outside sales employees

However, this exemption does not apply to blue-collar workers or emergency responders.

Fluctuating Workweek Overtime in Georgia

Some employees in Georgia can also earn overtime under the Fluctuating Workweek Method (FWW), which allows salaried workers with fluctuating schedules to receive overtime pay of one-half (0.5) times their regular hourly pay.

Employers are not obligated under federal law or Georgia law to provide breaks or meal periods to their workers.

However, if an employer chooses to provide such breaks at their discretion, they must follow some general break guidelines of the FLSA. Breaks lasting from 5 to 20 minutes must be pad, whereas break exceeding 30 minutes are unpaid. If a worker is required to work during a 30-minute break, such as a factory operative who needs to stay near the machine, then the meal break should be paid. 

Georgia employment law requires employers to provide reasonably timed breaks to nursing employees who wish to express milk while at work. These breaks must be paid for at the employee’s regular rate of pay.

Furthermore, employers must provide a private space that is not a bathroom for a nursing employee to express milk. Employers are not required to provide breastfeeding breaks if a nursing employee is working away from the employer’s worksite. Furthermore, state law exempts employers with fewer than 50 workers from providing breastfeeding breaks if it imposes undue hardship on business operations.

• Sick Leave: Under Georgia’s Family Care Act, employees can take up to five days of paid sick leave per year to care for their own or an immediate family member’s illness. To be eligible for sick leave, an employee must work at least 30 hours weekly. Employers in Georgia are only required to provide paid sick leave if they have more than 25 workers and already offer a paid leave policy.
• Holiday Leave (Public Employers): State employers in Georgia must provide 12 paid holidays to their employees each year. On these days, state offices should remain closed. In case an employee is required to work on a state holiday, they should be compensated with an alternative day off. If a holiday falls on a rest day, it can be observed on another day.
• Family and Medical Leave: The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federal law that allows qualifying employees in Georgia to take 12 weeks of unpaid leave annually. Employees can take leave under the FMLA to care for their own or a family member’s serious illness, care for a newborn, adopted, or foster child. To be eligible for FMLA benefits in Georgia, individuals must work for the state for at least 12 months (or 1,250 hours).
• Jury Leave: Employees in Georgia can take leave to attend jury duty. This leave is job protected, i.e., employers cannot retaliate against or discipline an employee for absence due to jury duty.
• Voting Leave: As per state law, all workers in Georgia have the right to vote in any local, regional, state, or comparable election and can take up to two hours of leave on election day. However, if an employee’s shift begins two hours after polls open or ends two hours before polls close, then voting leave is not mandatory.

The following is a list of public holidays that will be observed in Georgia in 2025:

Any individual under the age of 18 is considered a minor, unless they are married, emancipated, or a member of the armed forces.

Work Permits for Minors in Georgia

All minors under the age of 16 are required to obtain a work permit before securing employment in Georgia. Only minors working in the entertainment industry are exempt from this requirement.

Employers who hire minors are required to maintain work certificates and related records on-site for the duration of the minor’s employment. These records should include the hours worked by the minor in question.

In Georgia, minors under 16 can work for up to 4 hours on a school day and up to 8 hours on a non-school day. When school is not in session, they can work up to 40 hours. They can’t work before 6 a.m. or after 9 p.m. and can’t work during school hours unless they have completed high school or received permission from the board of education.

In Georgia, minors are allowed to take one hour for mealtime, or instead take half an hour for a meal break and an extra thirty minutes for enjoying some leisure activities or resting.

Minors under the age of 16 can’t work jobs that involve machinery, butchering, scaffolding, or anything else that might put them at risk of getting hurt. This is to protect them from temporary or permanent injuries or illnesses. It’s prohibited for anyone under 18 to handle alcoholic beverages by serving, selling, dispensing, or taking orders for them.

Nonetheless, minors can work in supermarkets, convenience stores, breweries, or drugstores as long as the alcohol is sold for off-site consumption.