HB1204: HB1204 Employment; age discrimination; change age of individuals protected

Georgia's current age discrimination law (O.C.G.A. § 34-1-2) protects employees between the ages of 40 and 70 from being refused hiring, employment, or being fired because of their age, as long as they are qualified for the job. This bill would change that age range so the protection applies to anyone 40 years of age or older, with no upper cutoff. The rest of the existing law stays the same: employers can still maintain legitimate retirement policies that are not used to get around the age discrimination rule, and the law still allows compulsory retirement in narrow cases involving executives or high policy-making employees with large guaranteed pensions. The bill would take effect immediately upon the Governor's signature or upon becoming law without a signature.

• Changes the protected age range in Georgia's age discrimination in employment law from 'between 40 and 70 years' to '40 years of age or older,' removing the upper age limit.
• Keeps intact the existing exception allowing employers to maintain retirement policies that are not used as a way to sidestep the discrimination ban.
• Keeps intact the existing exception permitting mandatory retirement for certain executives or high policy-making employees aged 65 to 70 with large guaranteed pensions.
• Sets the law to take effect as soon as the Governor signs it or it becomes law without a signature.
• Repeals any other Georgia laws that conflict with this change.

Georgia workers aged 40 and older, especially those over 70 who were previously outside the law's protection, along with employers, firms, associations, and corporations operating in Georgia that must follow the state's age discrimination rules when hiring, firing, or licensing workers.

Under current Georgia law, workers over 70 are not covered by the state's age discrimination protections. This bill would extend those protections to all workers 40 and older regardless of upper age, meaning older employees could not be refused hiring or fired for age alone once the reasonable job demands do not require an age distinction.

• Section 1 revises subsection (a) of O.C.G.A. § 34-1-2 to replace the age range 'between the ages of 40 and 70 years' with '40 years of age or older.'
• Section 1 preserves the existing rule that employers cannot refuse to hire, fire, or bar from employment a covered individual based solely on age when job demands do not require an age distinction.
• Section 1 retains the carve-out letting employers keep legitimate retirement policies or systems that are not a subterfuge to evade the law's purpose.
• Section 1 retains the exception allowing compulsory retirement of executives or high policy-making employees aged 65 to 70 who have a guaranteed annual retirement benefit of at least $27,000.
• Section 2 sets the effective date as the date of the Governor's approval or the date the bill becomes law without approval.
• Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2026-02-09House Second Readers (House)
2. 2026-02-06House First Readers (House)
3. 2026-02-05House Hopper (House)

• Kim Schofield (D, HD-063)Primary sponsor
• Gerald Greene (R, HD-154)
• Dewey McClain (D, HD-109)
• Rick Townsend (R, HD-179)
• Viola Davis (D, HD-087)

• age discrimination
• employment law
• workplace protections
• older workers