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 align closely with the FLSA. As the state minimum wage is lower than the federal minimum wage, most employers in Georgia must comply with federal law. Overtime pay, as per the FLSA, is calculated for additional hours worked over 40 in a week. 

Additionally, the FLSA requires employers to maintain accurate records of employee work hours, including clock-in and clock-out times. Breaks are not mandated by federal or state law; providing a meal or rest break is entirely at the discretion of an employer in Georgia. 

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 cannot discriminate against a job applicant during the hiring process based on protected characteristics outlined by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). These include:

Additionally, employers cannot limit and segregate working employees, or deny promotion opportunities based on race, color, religion, national origin, or sex as per the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 

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. However, with some exceptions, the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour applies in the state. 

Additionally, employees who are subject to both state and federal minimum wage laws are entitled to the higher rate.

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.

Certain employees in Georgia are exempt from receiving the state minimum wage. These include: 

• Employers who have five or fewer employees
• Businesses that have a sales limit of $40,000 per year
• Employers of domestic workers
• Farm owners, sharecroppers, or land renters
• Tipped employees
• High school or college students
• Newspaper carriers
• Employees who work in nonprofit institutions for children
• Mentally disabled adults are also entitled to earn the federal minimum wage. 

Additionally, under the Fair Labor Standards Act, there are certain employees who are exempt from receiving the federal 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. 

Georgia employment law requires workers to be paid bi-monthly. Wages can be paid by cash, check, payroll card account, or electronic transfer.

However, manual, mechanical, and clerical workers employed in farming, sawmills, and turpentine industries, as well as any employee working as a department head, official, or superintendent, can 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 $684 a week (or $35,568 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 paid, whereas breaks 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 federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) allows qualifying employees in Georgia to take 12 weeks of unpaid leave annually to care for their own or a family member’s serious illness, care for a newborn, adopted, or foster child. Employees can also take leave for military family deployment or to care for a seriously injured service member. To be eligible for FMLA benefits in Georgia, individuals must work for the state for at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months prior to taking leave for an employer with 50 or more workers within a 75-mile radius.
• Jury Leave: Employees in Georgia can take unpaid 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.

In Georgia, minors are not allowed to work during school hours unless they are excused from school attendance by a school board of education or have completed high school.

Work hours for minors aged 14 and 5 are as follows: 

• They can work three hours on a school day, with a weekly total of 18 hours. 
• On non-school days, they can work eight hours daily, with a weekly total of 40 hours. 

These work hours can only be scheduled between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Employers can extend this schedule until 9 p.m. between June 1 and Labor Day. 

There are no state work hour regulations for minors aged 16 and 17.

In Georgia, individuals under the age of 18 are prohibited from working in occupations restricted for minors by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Minors aged 14 and 15 are only allowed to work in specific occupations approved by the state Commissioner of Labor. These include: