--- title: HB 914. Commissioner of Labor; ensure certain employees receive comparable pay for comparable work in jobs which require comparable skill, effort, and responsibility; authorize collection: bills id: 2025-2026/hb914 cite_as: HB 914, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb914 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb914.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb914/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/72005 date: 2026-01-12 status: introduced corpus_version: bills-2026-09-13 license: Public record of the Georgia General Assembly, via LegiScan; see about.md publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice. up: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb913.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb915.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 129 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb914.md?full=1 bill_number: HB 914 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: House bill_type: bill status_date: 2025-04-02 last_action: House Second Readers sponsors: - Karen Lupton - Lisa Campbell - Terry Cummings - Marvin Lim text_version: Introduced has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HB914/2025 upstream_id: 2019441 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - equal pay - employment law - labor enforcement - wage discrimination - state labor department --- # HB 914. Commissioner of Labor; ensure certain employees receive comparable pay for comparable work in jobs which require comparable skill, effort, and responsibility; authorize ## Text House Bill 914 By: Representatives Lupton of the 83rd, Campbell of the 35th, Cummings of the 39th, and Lim of the 98th A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT To amend Chapter 5 of Title 34 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to sex discrimination in employment, so as to authorize the Commissioner of Labor to ensure that certain employees receive comparable pay for comparable work in jobs which require comparable skill, effort, and responsibility; to provide for powers and duties of the Commissioner; to provide for consent orders, administrative orders, hearings, penalties, and judicial review; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA: SECTION 1. Chapter 5 of Title 34 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to sex discrimination in employment, is amended by revising Code Section 34-5-4, relating to powers and authority of Commissioner under chapter, as follows: "34-5-4. (a) The Commissioner shall have the power and it shall be his or her duty to carry out the provisions of this chapter; and for this purpose the Commissioner or his or her authorized representative shall have the power to: (1) Assist any employer to ensure Ensure that all employees are receiving comparable pay for comparable work in jobs which require comparable skill, effort, and responsibility; (2) Assist any employer so that Review the character of the work and operations on which persons are employed can be compared of any employer, to question such persons any employer or employee, and to obtain such other information as is reasonably necessary for the administration and enforcement of this chapter; and (3) Eliminate pay practices unlawful under this chapter by informal methods of conference, conciliation, and persuasion, provided that the remedy obtained through such methods may be set out in a written consent order and signed by both the Commissioner and the violator or violators; provided, however, that, in case such methods fail to correct or remedy such practices, the Commissioner may issue an administrative order as provided in subsection (d) of this Code section. (b) The Commissioner is authorized to request witnesses to appear and to produce pertinent records for examination by the Commissioner or his or her authorized representative in the county of the place of business of the employer and such witnesses shall be paid the same fees as are allowed witnesses attending the superior courts of this state. In the event of failure of a person to attend, testify, or produce records voluntarily, the Commissioner may make application to the superior court of the county in which the business is located and, after notice and hearing, the court, in its discretion, and upon proper cause shown, may issue an order requiring the person to appear before the Commissioner or his or her authorized representative and testify or produce records as requested by the Commissioner. (c) The Commissioner shall have the authority to issue such rules and regulations appropriate to the carrying out of this chapter. (d) The Commissioner shall have the authority to issue an administrative order directing a violator or violators to comply with the provisions of this chapter. Such order shall specify the provision or provisions of this chapter or rule or regulation alleged to have been violated and shall order that necessary corrective action be taken within a reasonable time to be prescribed in such order. Such order shall become final unless the person or persons named therein request in writing a hearing no later than 30 days after such order is served on such person or persons. After such hearing, the Commissioner may issue a final order imposing a penalty not to exceed $1,000.00 for each violation whenever the Commissioner determines that any person has violated any provision of this chapter, any rule or regulation promulgated under this chapter, or any order issued pursuant to this chapter. The hearing and any administrative review thereof shall be conducted in accordance with the procedure for contested cases under Chapter 13 of Title 50, the 'Georgia Administrative Procedure Act.' Any person that has exhausted all administrative remedies available and that is aggrieved or adversely affected by a final order or action of the Commissioner shall have the right of judicial review thereof in accordance with Chapter 13 of Title 50. All penalties recovered under this Code section shall be paid into the state treasury." SECTION 2. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed. ## Summaries written by Georgia Commons The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the text above and is not part of the bill. Quote the text, not the summary. A Georgia House bill would give the Commissioner of Labor stronger authority to enforce the state's equal pay law, including the power to investigate employers, issue administrative orders, and fine violators up to $1,000 per violation. ### Plain-language summary Georgia law already says employees should get comparable pay for comparable work requiring comparable skill, effort, and responsibility, under Chapter 5 of Title 34 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated. Currently the Commissioner of Labor's role is mostly to assist employers with complying and to resolve problems through conference and persuasion. This bill rewrites O.C.G.A. § 34-5-4 to make the Commissioner directly responsible for ensuring comparable pay, rather than just assisting employers. It lets the Commissioner or staff review any employer's operations, question employers or employees, and gather information needed to enforce the law. It also creates a formal enforcement process: informal fixes can be written into a signed consent order, and if that fails, the Commissioner can issue an administrative order requiring corrective action. A person who does not request a hearing within 30 days is bound by that order. After a hearing, the Commissioner can impose a fine of up to $1,000 per violation, with the process following Georgia's Administrative Procedure Act and a right to appeal in court. Fines collected go to the state treasury. ### What it does - Changes the Commissioner of Labor's role from assisting employers with equal pay compliance to directly ensuring comparable pay for comparable work. - Authorizes the Commissioner to review any employer's operations and question employers or employees, not just workers, to enforce the equal pay law. - Creates a written consent order process allowing the Commissioner and a violator to sign an agreement to fix a pay violation informally. - Adds a formal administrative order process requiring corrective action, which becomes final if no hearing is requested within 30 days. - Allows the Commissioner to impose a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for each violation after a hearing, with penalties going to the state treasury. - Sets up judicial review rights for anyone who has used up all administrative appeals and is still affected by a final order. ### Who it affects Georgia employers, who could be investigated, questioned, and fined for comparable pay violations; employees, whose pay comparisons the Commissioner would directly examine; and the Georgia Department of Labor, which gains new investigative and enforcement powers under the state's equal pay law. ### Why it matters Employers in Georgia could face direct investigations, consent orders, or fines up to $1,000 per violation if they fail to pay comparable wages for comparable work, a shift from the current system that relies mainly on assistance and voluntary conciliation with employers. ### Key provisions - Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 34-5-4(a)(1) so the Commissioner must ensure comparable pay directly, replacing the prior duty to merely assist employers. - Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 34-5-4(a)(2) to let the Commissioner review any employer's operations and question employers or employees, not only compare workers' jobs. - Section 1 adds language to O.C.G.A. § 34-5-4(a)(3) allowing violations resolved informally to be documented in a signed written consent order. - Section 1 creates new O.C.G.A. § 34-5-4(d), letting the Commissioner issue administrative orders requiring corrective action within a set time. - New subsection (d) sets a 30-day window to request a hearing before an order becomes final, and caps penalties at $1,000 per violation after a hearing. - New subsection (d) applies the Georgia Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 13 of Title 50) to hearings and appeals, and directs penalty money to the state treasury. - Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws. ## Status - Status: Introduced (2025-04-02) - Last action: House Second Readers (2026-01-12) - Sponsors: Karen Lupton, Lisa Campbell, Terry Cummings, Marvin Lim - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/72005 > The history, votes, and amendments (129 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb914.md?full=1