Georgia HR Laws for Small Employers (2026)

Georgia at a glance

Pay range in job posts: No Georgia law requires pay ranges in job posts.
New-hire reporting: Report every new hire and rehire to the Georgia New Hire Reporting Program within 10 days of the hire date, under O.C.G.A. 19-11-9.2. No employer is exempt.
Paid sick leave: No Georgia law requires paid sick leave. Employers with 25 or more employees that do offer sick leave must let employees who work 30 or more hours a week use up to 5 days a year of it to care for immediate family.
Paid family and medical leave: Georgia has no state paid family or medical leave program for private employers. Leave rights come from federal law, such as the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), if you are covered.
Final pay when you end employment: No Georgia statute sets a final paycheck deadline for private employers. Paying on the next regular payday is the safe default.
Final pay when they quit: No Georgia statute sets a deadline. Pay on the next regular payday, and give the employee a Separation Notice (DOL-800) on their last day.
Unused vacation at exit: No Georgia statute requires paying out unused vacation. Your written policy or agreement controls.

Hiring in Georgia

Georgia has no pay transparency law, so pay ranges in job posts are your choice unless you hire in a state that requires them. Background checks follow the federal rules in employee background checks.

E-Verify. Under O.C.G.A. 36-60-6, a private employer with more than 10 employees must register with and use E-Verify. You prove it when you apply for or renew a city or county business license or occupational tax certificate, by signing an affidavit with your E-Verify user number. Employers with 10 or fewer employees sign the same affidavit stating they are exempt. Count employees as of January 1, company-wide in every location, including only those who work at least 35 hours a week. See Form I-9 and E-Verify.

New-hire reporting. Georgia law (O.C.G.A. 19-11-9.2) and federal law require every Georgia employer to report all new hires, including rehires, to the Georgia New Hire Reporting Program. No employer is exempt. Report within 10 days of the hire date, which is sooner than the 20-day federal baseline; the general process is in new-hire reporting.

Georgia onboarding checklist
Requirement	Who it applies to	When
New-hire report	All employers	Within 10 days of the hire date
E-Verify, plus the affidavit with your business license	Private employers with more than 10 full-time employees	For each new hire; affidavit at license application or renewal
Unemployment tax account (Form DOL-1A)	Employers with workers in Georgia	Right after your first Georgia payroll
Workers' compensation insurance and posted panel of physicians	3 or more regular employees, including part-time	Once you regularly employ 3 or more people

Unemployment tax. You generally owe Georgia unemployment tax once you pay $1,500 in a calendar quarter or have at least one worker in 20 different weeks of a year. Register with the Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) on Form DOL-1A right after your first Georgia payroll. New employers pay a 2.70 percent rate on the first $9,500 of each employee's wages. Since GDOL's 2026 rule update, if a new hire has not yet given you a Social Security number, you can file the quarterly wage report on time with a placeholder number and correct it, generally within 30 days of getting the real number.

Pay in Georgia

Georgia's own minimum wage is $5.15 an hour and applies only to employers of 6 or more employees who are not covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Employers covered by the FLSA, which includes most businesses, must pay the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour. For overtime and exempt status, see overtime rules and exempt vs non-exempt.

Leave in Georgia

Georgia does not require employers to offer paid sick leave or vacation. It does have one rule about sick leave you already offer, often called the kin care law (O.C.G.A. 34-1-10).

It applies to employers with 25 or more employees, and to employees who work at least 30 hours a week.
If you provide sick leave, employees may use up to 5 days of earned sick leave per calendar year to care for an immediate family member: a child, spouse, grandchild, grandparent, parent, or a dependent listed on their latest tax return.
Employees can only use leave they have already earned, and they must follow your sick leave policy.
It does not apply to employers that offer an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP).
The law originally had an expiration date. Georgia repealed that sunset in 2023, so the rule is permanent.

Job-protected leave in Georgia comes from federal law. See how to handle an FMLA request and paid sick leave laws for how Georgia compares with other states.

Final pay and separations in Georgia

Georgia has no statute that sets a deadline for a private employer's final paycheck, whether you end the job or the employee quits. Federal law does not require immediate payment either. Paying everything owed on the next regular payday is the safe default. Unused vacation is owed only if your written policy or agreement promises it. See final paycheck laws and unused PTO payout.

The rule Georgia employers most often miss is the Separation Notice. Under O.C.G.A. 34-8-190(c), you must complete Form DOL-800 for every worker who leaves, no matter the reason, including quits. Give it to the employee on their last day of work. If they are not available, make sure they receive it within three days. GDOL now encourages electronic delivery, though a signed paper copy still works.

What goes on the DOL-800 Separation Notice
Item	What to enter
Reason for separation	Check "lack of work", or explain the circumstances fully and clearly
Payments beyond the last day	Severance, pay in lieu of notice, bonuses and similar, with amounts and dates. Do not include vacation pay or earned wages
Earnings	Whether the employee earned at least $9,490 with you, and their average weekly wage
Employer details	Your GDOL account number, mailing address and a signature

Keep a copy, because you can attach it if GDOL later asks about the separation. For a group layoff, GDOL uses a separate mass separation notice (DOL-402) instead of individual DOL-800 forms. For the full offboarding sequence, see the employee offboarding checklist and how to fire an employee.

Other things to know

Workers' compensation: required once you regularly employ 3 or more people, counting regular part-time employees. In a corporation or LLC, officers or members count toward the 3. See workers' compensation requirements.
Panel of physicians: covered employers must post information identifying medical providers, for example a panel of at least six doctors. Employees who wait more than 30 days to report a work injury may lose benefits, so tell them to report right away.
Posters: GDOL's 2026 rule update keeps physical posters at traditional worksites and allows electronic options, or giving the information directly to employees, for remote and hybrid teams where permitted. See labor law posters.
Layoffs: plan larger reductions with the federal rules in WARN Act layoffs, and use GDOL's mass separation notice for group separations.

Common questions

Is there a final paycheck deadline in Georgia?

No Georgia statute sets one for private employers, whether the employee is fired or quits. Paying on the next regular payday is the safe default.

Do I have to give a Separation Notice when an employee quits in Georgia?

Yes. Georgia requires a completed Separation Notice (DOL-800) for every worker who leaves, whatever the reason, delivered on the last day or within three days if they are not available.

Do Georgia employers have to use E-Verify?

Private employers with more than 10 employees (counted company-wide, 35 or more hours a week, as of January 1) must use E-Verify and attest to it when they apply for or renew a business license.

Does Georgia require paid sick leave?

No. But employers with 25 or more employees that offer sick leave must let employees who work 30 or more hours a week use up to 5 days a year of earned sick leave to care for immediate family.

When do I need workers' comp in Georgia?

Once you regularly employ 3 or more people, including regular part-time employees and, for corporations and LLCs, officers or members.

How MambaHR handles this

MambaHR keeps your Georgia employee records and hiring pipeline and does the admin itself: onboarding forms go out and get followed up, the Form I-9 is started, and at offboarding it removes access, works out final pay for a person to approve and drafts the separation paperwork. Every hire, raise, leave and exit becomes a payroll change for your current provider or for Deel-managed payroll (Powered by Deel). Terminations always go to a person, and every change is logged.

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Sources

Last reviewed October 2, 2026. This page is general information, not legal advice. Laws change and exceptions apply, so check the sources above or an employment lawyer before you act on a specific case.