2020 Georgia Code
Title 34 - Labor and Industrial Relations
Chapter 6A - Equal Employment for Persons With Disabilities
§ 34-6A-4. Prohibited Discriminatory Activities

1. No employer shall fail or refuse to hire nor shall any employer discharge or discriminate against any individual with disabilities with respect to wages, rates of pay, hours, or other terms and conditions of employment because of such person's disability unless such disability restricts that individual's ability to engage in the particular job or occupation for which he or she is eligible; nor shall any employer limit, segregate, or classify individuals with disabilities in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual with disabilities of employment opportunities or otherwise affect employee status because of such person's disability, unless such disability constitutes a bona fide and necessary reason for such limitation, segregation, or classification. This subsection shall not be construed to require any employer to modify his or her physical facilities or grounds in any way or exercise a higher degree of caution for an individual with disabilities than for any person who is not an individual with disabilities, nor shall this subsection be construed to prohibit otherwise lawful employment practices or requirements merely because such practices or requirements affect a greater proportion of individuals with disabilities than individuals without disabilities within the area from which the employer customarily hires his or her employees.
2. No employment agency, placement service, training school or center, or labor organization shall fail or refuse to refer for employment or otherwise discriminate against individuals because of their disability.
3. No labor organization shall exclude or expel from its membership or otherwise discriminate against individuals because of their disability; nor shall a labor organization limit, segregate, or classify its membership or classify or fail or refuse to refer for employment any individual with disabilities in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual with disabilities of employment opportunities, would otherwise affect such person's employee status or employment applicant status, or would adversely affect such person's wages, hours, or conditions of employment because of such person's disability.
4. No employer, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee controlling apprenticeship programs or other training or retraining, including on-the-job training programs, shall discriminate against any individual because of such individual's disability, in the admission to or the employment in any program established to provide apprenticeship or other training.
5. It is discrimination for an employer to print or publish or cause to be printed or published a notice or advertisement relating to employment by such employer, which advertisement or notice indicates any preference, limitation, specification, or discrimination based on disability, except that such a notice or advertisement may indicate a limitation or specification based upon disability if the criteria is job related.

(Code 1933, § 66-504, enacted by Ga. L. 1981, p. 1803, § 2; Ga. L. 1989, p. 14, § 34; Ga. L. 1995, p. 1302, § 4.)

- Policy of state with regard to employment of the disabled by state or political subdivisions, § 30-1-2.

Access to and use of public buildings and facilities by the handicapped, T. 30, C. 3.

- Pursuant to § 28-9-5, in 1989, "opportunities" was substituted for "opportunties" in subsection (c).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Opportunity by employee to select job.

- O.C.G.A. § 34-6A-4 does not impose on an employer a duty to provide a handicapped employee with the opportunity to select a job which the employee would be able to perform. Dugger v. Delta Air Lines, 173 Ga. App. 16, 325 S.E.2d 394 (1984), cert. denied, 471 U.S. 1103, 105 S. Ct. 2330, 85 L. Ed. 2d 847 (1985).

- Presumption of discrimination arising from a handicapped employee's prima facie case of disparate treatment is rebutted when the employer proffers nondiscriminatory reasons for an employment decision; therefore, an employee is not entitled to a verdict as a matter of law simply by establishing a prima facie case, but must prove that a proffered reason is not the true reason for an employment decision. Shaw v. W.M. Wrigley, Jr., Co., 183 Ga. App. 699, 359 S.E.2d 723 (1987).

Cited in Garrett v. K-Mart Corp., 197 Ga. App. 374, 398 S.E.2d 302 (1990).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

C.J.S.

- 14 C.J.S., Civil Rights, §§ 92, 98, 108.

- Handicap as job disqualification under state legislation forbidding job discrimination on account of handicap, 78 A.L.R.4th 265.

Discrimination "because of handicap" or "on the basis of handicap" under state statutes prohibiting job discrimination on account of handicap, 81 A.L.R.4th 144.

Visual impairment as handicap or disability under state employment discrimination law, 77 A.L.R.5th 595.

When must specialized equipment or other workplace modifications be provided to qualified disabled employee or applicant as reasonable accommodation, 125 A.L.R. Fed. 629.

When must employer offer qualified disabled employee or applicant opportunity to change employee's workplace or work at home as means of fulfilling reasonable accommodation requirement, 133 A.L.R. Fed. 521.

When does job restructuring constitute reasonable accommodation of qualified disabled employee or applicant, 142 A.L.R. Fed 311.

Who is "qualified individual" under Americans with Disabilities Act provisions defining and extending protection against employment discrimination to qualified individual with disability (42 U.S.C.A. §§ 12111(8), 12112(a)), 146 A.L.R. Fed. 1

When is individual regarded as having or perceived to have, impairment within meaning of Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C.A. § 12102(2)(c)), 148 A.L.R. Fed. 305.

Propriety of treating separate entities as one for determining number of employees required by Title VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C.A. § 2000e(b)) for action against "employer", 160 A.L.R. Fed. 441.

Action under Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C.A. §§ 12101 et seq.), to remedy alleged harassment or hostile work environment, 162 A.L.R. Fed. 603.

What constitutes employment discrimination by public entity in violation of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C.A. § 12132, 164 A.L.R. Fed. 433.

Validity, construction, and application of Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C.A. § 12112(b)(5)(A)) and Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C.A. § 791) reasonable accommodation requirements to employee's request to work from home or to change location of employment, 77 A.L.R. Fed. 2d 187.