2025 Code of Georgia
Title 34 - Labor and Industrial Relations (Chs. 1 — 15)
Chapter 2 - Department of Labor (§§ 34-2-1 — 34-2-16)
§ 34-2-13. Penalties for violations of chapter and for false statements under oath
(a) Any employer or owner who violates or fails or refuses to comply with any provision of this chapter within the time prescribed or any judgment or decree made by any court in connection with the provisions of this chapter for which no penalty has been otherwise provided shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished for each such offense by a fine of not less than $20.00 nor more than $200.00, by imprisonment not to exceed six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
(b) Any person who shall knowingly testify falsely, under oath, or shall knowingly make, give, or produce any false statements or false evidence, under oath, to the Commissioner of Labor or his authorized representatives commits the offense of perjury.
History
Ga. L. 1937, p. 230, § 18; Ga. L. 1975, p. 198, § 3.
Annotations
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Ga. L. 1937, p. 230, § 18 (see now O.C.G.A. § 34-2-13) is a penal section and must be strictly construed. Plummer v. State, 90 Ga. App. 773, 84 S.E.2d 202, 1954 Ga. App. LEXIS 810 (1954).
Employer’s false statements do not support at-will employee’s wrongful discharge claim. —Although a discharged at-will city employee’s claims that the employer falsified the separation notice and conspired to deceive the Department of Labor for purposes of denying the employee unemployment compensation benefits could possibly have implicated the criminal provisions of O.C.G.A. §§ 34-2-13(b) and 34-8-256(b), there was nothing in those statutes that authorized a wrongful discharge claim on that basis. Reid v. City of Albany, 276 Ga. App. 171, 622 S.E.2d 875, 2005 Ga. App. LEXIS 1194 (2005).
Research References & Practice Aids
Cross references.Offense of perjury generally, § 16-10-70.
Hierarchy Notes:O.C.G.A. Title 34
O.C.G.A. Title 34, Ch. 2
