Georgia Department Labor
The Georgia Department of Labor requires employers who employ three or more employees to provide workers’ compensation coverage for their employees. Georgia Department of Labor assures that employees injured on the job are entitled to payment of their medical bills and income benefits for any lost time more than seven days.
In most cases, workers’ compensation benefits are the only source of recovery for an employee and they cannot file a separate lawsuit against their employer.
For injured employees who also had a pre-existing permanent impairment, under certain circumstances, employers may be entitled to reimbursement from the Subsequent Injury Trust Fund for a portion of workers’ compensation benefits paid.
Georgia Department Labor recommends that employers have both an anti-discrimination and a non-harassment policy. The Georgia Department Labor requires that the anti-discrimination policy should include language which declares that the employer will not discriminate against any qualified individuals on the basis of race, religion, national origin, color, gender, age, disability, or veteran status.
The harassment policy should include not only sexual harassment, but also other forms of harassment, specifically including religious, gender and racial harassment. Additionally, the harassment policy should have a clearly defined procedure for reporting harassment, including a mechanism whereby the employee can bypass his or her immediate supervisor. The harassment policy should also include a provision which states that the company will not tolerate retaliation against individuals who complain about harassment. The harassment policy should be posted and disseminated to all employees, who sign a receipt acknowledging that they received the policy.
Companies who do not have anti-harassment policies could be left without any defenses in the event of a harassment lawsuit.
The National Labor Relations Act provides for employee rights to organize, join unions, and engage in collective bargaining. It is unlawful for an employer to interfere with an employee’s right to join a union and engage in union activities, including discharging or otherwise discriminating against employees because they engage in union activities. Employers also are required to bargain in good faith with a union. Georgia has a “right to work” law which prohibits interference with employment to compel any person to either join or refrain from joining a union.
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act prohibits discrimination against workers who are 40 years of age or older. The law applies to all private employers with 20 or more employees, employment agencies and certain labor unions. Georgia law provides it is a misdemeanor to discriminate in hiring and employment against individuals between the ages of 40 and 70.
Employers are prohibited from engaging in discrimination against qualified individuals with a disability by the Georgia Equal Employment for People with Disabilities Code, The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990. A “qualified individual with a disability” is an individual who possesses the requisite skills, experience, education, and other job-related requirements of the position and who can perform the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodation.
Generally, federal law prohibits discrimination in employment decisions against people who have declared bankruptcy. The Equal Pay Act and Georgia law forbid employers to pay different wages to men and women who are performing equal jobs. GA Dept Labor entitles workers to the minimum wage of $5.15 per hour and overtime pay at a rate of not less than one and one-half times their regular rate of pay after 40 hours of work in a workweek.
Georgia Dept Labor states that the practice of discriminating on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees of one sex at a lesser rate than the rate paid to employees of the opposite sex for comparable work is illegal. The Georgia Dept Labor specifies that jobs which require the same, or essentially the same, knowledge, skill, effort, and responsibility unjustly discriminates against the person receiving the lesser rate.
Every person in the service of another under any contract of hire or apprenticeship, written or implied, except a person whose employment is not in the usual course of the trade, business, occupation, or profession of the employer; and minors, even though working in violation of any child labor law or other similar statute.
This law applies to the State of Georgia and all departments, instrumentalities, and authorities thereof; each county within the state, including its school district; each independent public school district; any municipal corporation within the state and any political division thereof; any individual, firm, association, or public or private corporation engaged in any business.
Any individual with disabilities who is aggrieved by an unfair employment practice against such individual may institute a civil action against the persons engaged in such prohibited conduct. Such action may be brought in any court of record in this state having jurisdiction over the defendant and shall be brought within 180 days after the alleged prohibited conduct occurred.
Various GA Department Labor minimum wage exceptions apply under specific circumstances to workers with disabilities, full-time students, youth under age 20 in their first 90 days of employment, tipped employees and student-learners. Special rules apply to state and local government employment involving fire protection and law enforcement activities, volunteer services, and compensatory time off (instead of cash overtime pay). Employers are required to keep records on wages, hours, and other items which are generally maintained as an ordinary business practice.
The FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) child labor provisions are designed to protect the educational opportunities of youth and prohibit their employment in jobs and under conditions detrimental to their health or safety. The child labor provisions include some restrictions on hours of work for youth under 16 years of age and lists of hazardous occupations too dangerous for young workers to perform. See YouthRules! for additional information on child labor rules for teens, parents, educators and employers
Wages required by the FLSA are due on the regular payday for the pay period covered. Deductions made from wages for such items as cash or merchandise shortages, employer-required uniforms, and tools of the trade, are not legal if they reduce the wages of employees below the minimum wage or reduce the amount of overtime pay due under the FLSA.
In order for the FLSA to apply, there must be an employment relationship between an “employer” and an “employee.” The FLSA also contains some exemptions from these basic rules. Some Georgia department of labor rules apply to specific types of businesses and others to specific kinds of work.
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