Georgia Labor Laws that Matter to Your Businesses (2021)

Georgia has relatively few state labor laws and regulations, so businesses in Georgia often need to defer to federal employer laws to understand what’s required of them.

If you’re a business owner in Georgia, here are a few important requirements for minimum wage, overtime, and sick leave.

Georgia Minimum Wage

The minimum wage for Georgia is currently set at $5.15. However, employers subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act must pay the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

Georgia Overtime Laws

Federal overtime law, as determined by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), applies Georgia employers.

By federal law, a covered, nonexempt employee is entitled to compensation for overtime. The federal overtime provisions contained in the FLSA require an employee receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 hours in a workweek.

Employees can be covered by the FLSA in two ways:

• By working for a business or organization, who employs at least two employees, and whose annual dollar volume of sales or business done are at least $500,000; or hospitals, businesses providing medical or nursing care for residents, schools and preschools, and government agencies.

• If the employee’s work regularly involves commerce between states (“engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce”).

Georgia Sick Leave

Currently there is no Georgia state legislation that makes giving employees paid sick leave a mandatory requirement for employers.

However, under Act 203, if an employer chooses to provide paid sick leave to employees, that employer "shall allow an employee to use such sick leave for the care of an immediate family member; provided, however, that nothing in this section shall be construed to require an employer to offer sick leave or to require an employer to allow an employee to use more than five days of earned sick leave per calendar year for the care of an immediate family member."

Act 203 applies only to employers with more than 25 employees, and only to employees who work at least 30 hours a week.

Start or Grow a Business in Georgia

If you’re starting a business in Georgia, or trying to scale your operations, make sure you have a strategy for attracting new hires, managing back-office administrative tasks, and keeping compliant with state labor laws and regulations. It pays to offer competitive employee benefits packages, run payroll with flexible payroll software, and take care of business due diligence with necessary compliance support for your employer-related needs.

Learn how Justworks helps small businesses run with confidence.