HB914: HB914 Commissioner of Labor; ensure certain employees receive comparable pay for comparable work in jobs which require comparable skill, effort, and responsibility; authorize

Georgia already has a law against sex discrimination in pay (O.C.G.A. Chapter 5 of Title 34), but it currently focuses on the Commissioner of Labor helping employers voluntarily ensure comparable pay. This bill rewrites O.C.G.A. § 34-5-4 to shift the Commissioner's role from assisting employers to directly ensuring that employees receive comparable pay for comparable work requiring comparable skill, effort, and responsibility. The bill gives the Commissioner power to review employer pay practices and operations, question employers and employees, and gather information needed to enforce the law. It keeps existing tools such as informal conciliation, written consent orders, and administrative orders, and it preserves the process for hearings, appeals through the Georgia Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 13 of Title 50), and penalties of up to $1,000 per violation, with money collected going to the state treasury.

• Changes the Commissioner of Labor's role from helping employers voluntarily achieve comparable pay to actively ensuring employees receive comparable pay for comparable work.
• Grants the Commissioner authority to review any employer's pay practices and operations, not just assist employers who ask for help.
• Allows the Commissioner to question employers and employees directly and collect information needed to enforce the pay discrimination law.
• Keeps the existing enforcement process, including consent orders, administrative orders, hearings, and penalties up to $1,000 per violation.
• Preserves the right to appeal Commissioner decisions through a contested case hearing and then judicial review in the courts.

Georgia employers and their employees are directly affected, since the Commissioner of Labor gains authority to review any employer's pay practices for comparable work claims. The Georgia Department of Labor and its investigators, as well as witnesses called to testify or produce records, are also affected.

Employers could face direct investigation and questioning by the Department of Labor over pay practices, rather than only receiving voluntary assistance, and could be fined up to $1,000 per violation if found in violation. Employees would gain a more active state enforcement mechanism aimed at ensuring comparable pay for comparable work.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 34-5-4(a)(1) to make ensuring comparable pay a duty of the Commissioner rather than assistance offered to employers.
• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 34-5-4(a)(2) to authorize the Commissioner to review any employer's operations, question employers or employees, and obtain information for enforcement.
• Subsection (a)(3) retains informal resolution methods like conference, conciliation, and persuasion, with written consent orders signed by the Commissioner and the violator.
• Subsection (b) lets the Commissioner request witnesses and records, with court enforcement available if someone refuses to cooperate.
• Subsection (d) keeps the administrative order and hearing process, with a final penalty of up to $1,000 per violation and payment of penalties into the state treasury.
• Subsection (d) preserves rights to a hearing under the Georgia Administrative Procedure Act and judicial review after exhausting administrative remedies.
• Section 2 repeals all laws in conflict with the Act.

1. 2026-01-12House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-04-04House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-04-02House Hopper (House)

• Karen Lupton (D, HD-083)Primary sponsor
• Lisa Campbell (D, HD-035)
• Terry Cummings (D, HD-039)
• Marvin Lim (D, HD-098)

• equal pay
• employment discrimination
• Department of Labor
• workplace regulation