Required Benefits for Georgia Employees

What You Need to Know About Required Benefits for Georgia Employees

Georgia is required to provide employees working in the state with certain benefits. Here’s what you need to know about the required benefits for Georgia employees.

Georgia law leaves it up to employers to provide employees benefits whether paid or unpaid. Federal and state laws do require employers certain benefits upon certain leaves such as family and medical leave, jury duty leave, and voting leave.

Family and Medical Leave

Georgia does not provide paid family and medical leave and leaves it up to the employer to decide on providing paid family and medical leave.

Some employees qualify for leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The FMLA covers employees who work in public agencies or private-sector employers with at least 50 or more employees who work at least 20 work weeks.

Employees who take an FMLA leave are given 12 workweeks of leave for:

The birth of a child and taking care of the newborn within one year of birth
To take care of a new played child from the adoption or foster care within one year of placement
To recover from one’s own health issue
To take care of a member of a family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition
To take care of a family member who is suffering from a severe injury due to active military service

Jury Duty Leave

Georgia law states it is illegal for an employer to discharge, discipline, or penalize an employee for attending jury duty. Georgia does not require employees within the state paid jury duty leave. If the employer violates that law, they are liable to the employee for the damages suffered by the employee.

Sick Leave Benefits

Georgia law does not require employers to provide sick leave. If an employer does provide sick leave for its employees, they are recommended to follow the Georgia Family Care Act. The Georgia Family Care Act gives employees up to 5 days of sick leave and any employee who works at least 30 hours a week is eligible.

Unemployment Benefits

Georgia Department of Labor (DOL) provides Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits to workers temporarily if:

The worker is unemployed through no fault of their own
Who are looking for another job
Currently in approved training

The DOL states that employers pay the entire cost of Unemployment Insurance benefits.

Vacation Leave

Georgia is not required to provide their employees with vacation benefits. Employees who go on vacation are either paid or unpaid depending on their employer. An employer can establish a policy denying paid vacation leave. It is up to the employer to decide the maximum amount of vacation leave an employee can have.

Voting Leave

According to the Georgia Department of Administrative Services (DOAS), Georgia law requires employees to have paid leave to vote for up to 2 hours if:

The employee gives the employer reasonable notice to take time off
The voting polls are not open at least 2 hours before the employee’s shift starts or ends

Georgia law does not require employers to pay employees for voting leave.

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