HB1422: HB1422 State employees; add stillbirth as a qualifying event for parental leave

Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 45-20-17) currently lets eligible full-time state employees and local education agency employees take paid parental leave for the birth of a child, an adoption placement, or a foster care placement. It does not currently list stillbirth as one of the qualifying events. This bill amends that section to add stillbirth, using the definition already found in Georgia's vital records law (O.C.G.A. § 31-10-1(17)), as a fourth qualifying life event. That means an eligible employee who experiences a stillbirth would be able to take the same parental leave benefit available for a birth, adoption, or foster placement. The bill does not change any other eligibility rules, leave amounts, or procedures in the existing law, and it repeals any conflicting laws.

• Adds stillbirth, defined using the meaning in Georgia's vital records law (O.C.G.A. § 31-10-1(17)), as a new qualifying life event for state parental leave.
• Leaves unchanged the existing definitions of 'eligible employee' and 'employing entity' that determine who can use parental leave.
• Applies the new qualifying event to the same group already covered: full-time state government employees and full-time local education agency employees.
• Repeals any other Georgia laws that conflict with this change.

Full-time employees of Georgia's executive, legislative, and judicial branches, as well as full-time employees of local education agencies (school districts), who are already eligible for the state's parental leave program under O.C.G.A. § 45-20-17.

Eligible state and school employees who experience a stillbirth would gain access to the same parental leave benefit already offered for a birth, adoption, or foster placement, allowing paid time off during a loss that current law does not explicitly cover.

• Section 1 revises subsection (a) of O.C.G.A. § 45-20-17 to add a new qualifying life event, subparagraph (D), covering stillbirth.
• The stillbirth definition is tied directly to the existing definition in paragraph (17) of O.C.G.A. § 31-10-1, Georgia's vital records law.
• Section 2 repeals any conflicting state laws, a standard clean-up provision with no substantive effect beyond this change.

1. 2026-02-25House Second Readers (House)
2. 2026-02-24House First Readers (House)
3. 2026-02-20House Hopper (House)

• Eric Gisler (D, HD-121)Primary sponsor
• Jasmine Clark (D, HD-108)
• Michelle Au (D, HD-050)
• Debra Bazemore (D, HD-069)
• Lisa Campbell (D, HD-035)
• Doreen Carter (D, HD-093)

• parental leave
• state employees
• stillbirth
• public school employees
• personnel law