2022 Georgia Code
Title 34 - Labor and Industrial Relations
Chapter 4 - Minimum Wage Law
§ 34-4-3.1. Wages, Employment Benefits, and Scheduling by Local Government Entities

1. As used in this Code section, the term:
   1. “Employee” means any individual employed by an employer.
   2. “Employer” means any person or entity that employs one or more employees.
   3. “Employment benefits” means anything of value that an employee may receive from an employer in addition to wages and salary. This term includes, but is not limited to, any health benefits; disability benefits; death benefits; group accidental death and dismemberment benefits; paid days off for holidays, sick leave, vacation, and personal necessity; additional pay based on schedule changes; retirement benefits; and profit-sharing benefits.
   4. “Local government entity” means a county, municipal corporation, consolidated government, authority, board of education, or other local public board, body, or commission.
   5. “Person” means an individual, partnership, association, corporation, business trust, legal representative, or any other organized group of persons.
   6. “Wage or employment benefit mandate” means any requirement adopted by a local government entity which requires an employer to pay any or all of its employees a wage rate or provide employment benefits not otherwise required under this Code or federal law.
2. 1. Any and all wage or employment benefit mandates adopted by any local government entity are hereby preempted.
   2. No local government entity may adopt, maintain, or enforce by charter, ordinance, purchase agreement, contract, regulation, rule, or resolution, either directly or indirectly, a wage or employment benefit mandate.
   3. Any local government entity may offer its own employees employment benefits.
3. No local government entity may through its purchasing or contracting procedures seek to control or affect the wages or employment benefits provided by its vendors, contractors, service providers, or other parties doing business with the local government entity. A local government entity shall not through the use of evaluation factors, qualification of bidders, or otherwise award preferences on the basis of wages or employment benefits provided by its vendors, contractors, service providers, or other parties doing business with the local government entity.
4. 1. No local government entity may adopt, maintain, or enforce by charter, ordinance, regulation, rule, or resolution the hours or scheduling that an employer is required to provide employees or otherwise regulate employee output during work hours.
   2. Any local government entity may set and regulate such hours, scheduling, and output for its own employees and for the provision of services, including, but not limited to, those related to the supplementary powers given to local governments in Article IX, Section II, Paragraph III of the Constitution of this state.
   3. Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit a local government entity from regulating or limiting the hours a business may operate.

History. Code 1981, § 34-4-3.1 , enacted by Ga. L. 2004, p. 377, § 2; Ga. L. 2005, p. 450, § 1/HB 59; Ga. L. 2017, p. 570, § 1/HB 243; Ga. L. 2022, p. 569, § 2/SB 331.

The 2017 amendment, effective July 1, 2017, inserted “additional pay based on schedule changes;” near the end of the second sentence of paragraph (a)(3).

The 2022 amendment, effective May 5, 2022, added subsection (d).

Code Commission notes.

Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2004, “benefits;” was substituted for “benefits,” five times and “necessity;” was substituted for “necessity,” in paragraph (a)(3).

Editor’s notes.

Ga. L. 2004, p. 377, § 1, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: “The General Assembly finds and declares that:

“(1) Economic stability and growth are among the most important factors affecting the general welfare of the people of this state, and that economic stability and growth are therefore among the most important matters for which the General Assembly is responsible;

“(2) Mandated wage rates and employment benefits comprise a major cost component for private enterprises and are among the chief factors affecting the economic stability and growth of this state;

“(3) Local variations in mandated wage rates and employment benefits threaten many businesses with a loss of employees to areas which require higher mandated wage rates and employment benefits, threaten many other businesses with the loss of patrons to areas which allow lower mandated wage rates and employment benefits, and are therefore detrimental to the business environment of the state and to the citizens, businesses, and governments of the various political subdivisions as well as local labor markets;

“(4) In order for businesses to remain competitive and yet attract and retain the highest possible caliber of employees, private enterprises in this state must be allowed to function in a uniform environment with respect to mandated wage rates and employment benefits; and

“(5) Legislated wage and employment benefit disparity between local government entities of this state creates an anticompetitive marketplace that fosters job and business relocation.”

Ga. L. 2022, p. 569, § 1/SB 331, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “This Act shall be known and may be cited as the ‘Protecting Georgia Businesses and Workers Act.’”

Law reviews.

For annual survey of labor and employment law, see 56 Mercer L. Rev. 291 (2004).

For article on 2005 amendment of this Code section, see 22 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 177 (2005).

For annual survey of labor and employment law, see 57 Mercer L. Rev. 251 (2005).