HB1493: HB1493 Georgia Worker Empowerment Act; enact

Georgia currently limits collective bargaining for public employees and has no state law protecting union organizing for workers not covered by the federal National Labor Relations Act. This bill creates a new chapter of Georgia law, the Georgia Worker Empowerment Act, giving those workers the right to organize, bargain collectively, and take protected actions like picketing or striking without employer retaliation. It also restricts mandatory anti-union meetings and regulates automated warehouse productivity quotas. The bill creates six new industry worker standards boards (construction, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing/warehouse, retail/food service, and trucking) made up of worker, employer, and public representatives who recommend wage, hour, and safety standards to the Department of Labor. It changes at-will employment so employers must have just cause to fire someone, adds scheduling and predictability pay rules for large retail, food service, and hospitality employers, and rewrites the independent contractor test. It also repeals several existing bans on public employee strikes and school district collective bargaining, exempts good faith bargaining from the extortion law, and requires prevailing wages on public works contracts over $25,000. It would take effect immediately upon the Governor's signature.

• Creates a new Georgia Worker Empowerment Act giving employees not covered by federal labor law the right to organize, bargain collectively, and engage in protected activity like picketing or striking without employer retaliation.
• Ends most at-will firing for employees not covered by federal law, requiring employers to show 'just cause' (a legitimate business reason or documented poor performance) before termination.
• Establishes six new worker standards boards (construction, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing/warehouse, retail/food service, trucking) to recommend wage, hour, and safety standards to the Department of Labor, with civil fines up to $5,000 per day for willful violations.
• Requires large retail, food service, and hospitality employers (over 100 employees) to give two weeks' notice of schedules, pay extra for last-minute schedule changes, and provide a 10-hour rest period between shifts.
• Repeals existing state bans on collective bargaining for school employees, firefighters, and public employees generally, and lifts the state's ban on public employee strikes.
• Requires contractors on public works contracts over $25,000 to pay prevailing wages, including benefits, based on local collective bargaining agreements.

Private-sector workers and employers not covered by federal labor law, warehouse workers subject to automated productivity tracking, large retail and food service employers and their staff, public school employees, firefighters, other public employees, construction and healthcare workers, and contractors on state public works projects.

Workers in industries not covered by federal labor law would gain new legal protections to organize and negotiate pay, hours, and safety, while employers would face new restrictions on firing, scheduling, and monitoring employees, plus potential fines and lawsuits for violations. Public employees would regain the ability to bargain collectively and strike.

• Section 1-1 creates new Code Chapter 34-11, the 'Georgia Worker Empowerment Act,' covering employees not subject to the federal National Labor Relations Act, granting organizing and bargaining rights and banning retaliation for union activity.
• Section 34-11-6 requires warehouse employers using automated productivity quotas to disclose them in writing and bars quotas that block meal breaks, rest breaks, or restroom use.
• Sections 34-11-7 through 34-11-12 create six industry-specific worker standards boards with worker, employer, and public members who recommend wage, hour, and safety standards.
• Section 34-11-13 sets civil fines up to $5,000 per day for employers who willfully violate the new chapter, with a right to an administrative hearing.
• Section 2-2 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 34-7-1 so employers can only fire covered employees for 'just cause,' ending pure at-will employment for that group.
• Section 2-3 adds new scheduling rules (14-day advance notice, predictability pay, 10-hour rest periods) for large retail, food service, and hospitality employers.
• Section 2-5 rewrites the independent contractor test in O.C.G.A. § 34-9-2, making it harder for hiring entities to classify workers as contractors rather than employees.
• Section 3-6 adds a prevailing wage requirement to O.C.G.A. § 50-5-72 for public works contracts over $25,000, based on local collective bargaining agreements.

1. 2026-03-06House Second Readers (House)
2. 2026-03-04House First Readers (House)
3. 2026-03-03House Hopper (House)

• Derrick Jackson (D, HD-068)Primary sponsor
• Dewey McClain (D, HD-109)
• Billy Mitchell (D, HD-088)
• El-Mahdi Holly (D, HD-116)
• Mekyah McQueen (D, HD-061)

• labor unions
• collective bargaining
• worker rights
• at-will employment
• prevailing wage