Lee County, GA Wage and Hour Law

Click Here to Connect With a Overtime Lawyer serving Leesburg, Georgia

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Click Here to Connect With a Overtime Lawyer serving Leesburg, Georgia

Lee County Minimum Wage

Learn about minimum wage and how to make a wage claim in Lee County.

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Click Here to Connect With a Overtime Lawyer serving Leesburg, Georgia

Click Here to Connect With a Overtime Lawyer serving Leesburg, Georgia

What You Need to Know About Georgia Minimum Wage, Overtime, and Other Wage Claims

You can recover unpaid wages, overtime, and tips in Georgia if you know your rights and how to enforce them. Does your employer owe you unpaid wages or overtime? Or, maybe you need information on the breaks you’re entitled to, overtime rules, or your right to tips. If so, you'll find the information you need on this site to learn what you can do in Georgia to get the money you have earned.

Here, we answer many common questions about wage and hour law in Georgia, including:

your rights to pay and what to do if you are owed pay
whether you are eligible for overtime pay in Georgia
your right to tips in Georgia
what deductions your Georgia employer can make from your pay
what breaks you are entitled to in Georgia, and
how to file a wage claim against your employer with the Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division.

A few things to keep in mind as you explore this site:

1. Wage and hour laws differ from state to state.

Most states have enacted their own wage and hour regulations and procedures for employees to follow if they have been treated unfairly. These regulations and procedures vary from state to state. Start by finding out about your rights to pay in Georgia.

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Am I Entitled to Minimum Wage in Georgia?

You are entitled to be paid the minimum wage set by law in Georgia (unless you are exempt), and you have other work pay rights, too. No matter how you are paid, whether by hourly wage, salary, commissions, tips, or piece rate, the law in Georgia gives you certain rights. While your employer can pay you in a variety of ways, each manner of payment is regulated by federal law and the laws of some states. These regulations:

guarantee minimum wage rates
define commission pay
set paycheck payment schedules, and
establish the deadlines for paycheck payments in Georgia.

The Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division explains the Georgia laws that regulate pay for work in Georgia.

Am I Entitled to Overtime Pay in Georgia?

Most employers must pay overtime pay for every hour of overtime an employee works in Georgia, unless the employee is exempt. To figure out if you are entitled to overtime pay for your work in Georgia, these are the questions you need answers to:

Is your employer covered by federal or state overtime pay laws?
Are you eligible for overtime pay under federal or state overtime pay laws?
Are you exempt from overtime pay laws?
How does Georgia regulate overtime pay? and,
What is the overtime pay rate in Georgia?

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires most employers to pay employees one-and-a-half times their regular hourly wage (called "time and a half") for every hour worked over 40 hours in a workweek, unless the employee is exempt from overtime pay entitlement. So, if you are eligible, you should be paid your regular hourly wage plus 50% of that wage as premium pay for each overtime hour you work.

Checklist: Information and Documents You Will Need to File a Wage Claim

If you decide to file a claim for unpaid wages, be sure you have all of the information and documents you will need, including:

personal information, such as name, birthdate, address, phone number, email address, and Social Security number
name, address, and phone number of your employer
the location where you actually worked (this may be different from the employer’s official address)
your manager’s or the company owner’s name and phone number
a description of the type of work you did or do for the employer
pay stubs or wage statements showing how, when, and how much you were paid for the period in question, and
work hours, shift assignments, or other time records showing hours worked in the period in question.

You can find more information about what you need to have on hand to file a wage claim at Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division.

more...

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Current Minimum Wage in Georgia

Workers in Georgia are entitled to the federal minimum wage, $7.25 an hour, because it's higher than the state's minimum wage ($5.15 an hour).

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets the “floor” minimum wage for eligible workers in the U.S. This means most workers can't be paid less than the federal minimum wage, which is currently $7.25 an hour. But, many states and some local governments set their own minimum wage. Workers are entitled to be paid the highest minimum wage that applies where they work, whether it is set by federal, state, or local law.

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What Are My Rights to Tips in Georgia?

Your Georgia employer is legally allowed to pay you less than the minimum wage, as long as you earn enough in tips to bring your hourly rate up to the Georgia minimum. You can also be required to share or pool your tips with other employees, in some circumstances.

If you earn tips, you should know the rules about

what counts as a tip
how much your employer must pay you in addition to your tips, and
whether and how much you can be required to contribute to a tip sharing arrangement (also called a “tip pool”).

Am I an Employee or an Independent Contractor?

Your employer may refer to you as an “independent contractor” (or simply, “contractor”). Under this classification, your employer may claim that you are not entitled to the applicable minimum wage, overtime pay, standard withholdings for social security and other payroll taxes, or workers’ compensation or regular unemployment insurance. (During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, independent contractors were temporarily eligible for unemployment benefits under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.)

For these reasons, it can be less expensive for employers to hire independent contractors rather than employees. This gives employers a strong incentive to misclassify people, intentionally or mistakenly, as independent contractors when they are really employees under the law.

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Does My Georgia Employer Have to Give Me Breaks From Work?

In Georgia, you are not entitled to paid rest breaks.

Although many employees get meal and rest breaks during the workday, these breaks aren’t legally required everywhere. Federal law doesn’t require employers to give employees time off to eat or rest during their shifts. Employees are entitled to these breaks only if their state requires it.

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) doesn’t require employers to give breaks, but it does regulate when employers have to pay for breaks they choose to give.

Should Your Breaks Be Paid?

The FLSA requires employers to pay employees for all hours worked, including time the employer may classify as a “break.” An employer does not have to pay for longer meal breaks during which the employee is relieved of all work duties.

Intern or Employee: Should I Be Getting Paid?

Do you have an unpaid internship that feels suspiciously like a job? Although there are certainly legitimate internships throughout the private sector, which provide interns with important opportunities to learn new skills, there are also plenty of scams. Unless your internship meets all six of the requirements explained below, you should be getting paid.

Generally speaking, people who work for a company are entitled to be paid. They are protected by wage and hour laws guaranteeing them the minimum wage, overtime, and so on. Unpaid internships are an exception to this general rule. But an employer may call a work opportunity an internship -- for which they will receive work they don't have to pay for -- only if it truly is an educational opportunity for the intern, rather than just unpaid labor.

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Am I Entitled to Paid Sick Leave, Family Leave, or Vacation Time in Georgia?

Employees in Georgia are not legally entitled to paid time off under Georgia law.

The rules for paid sick and family leave have changed rapidly in response to COVID-19. In March of 2020, Congress passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which required many employers to start providing some paid time off to employees affected by COVID-19 by the beginning of April. The leave provisions of the law expired at the end of 2020, however.

Employers in most states are not legally required to offer paid time off to employees, although many choose to do so. more...

How Can I Find a Wage and Hour Lawyer in Georgia?

You can find a good employment lawyer to help with your wage claim in Georgia in several ways. A referral from someone you know is a great way to find a lawyer. Ask family members, friends, and co-workers whether they can recommend a good employment lawyer.

Lawyers specialize, so the lawyer who handled your sister’s car accident won’t be the right person to handle your wage claim. However, lawyers also know other lawyers, so don’t hesitate to ask a well-recommended lawyer in a different field for an employment lawyer referral.

If you can’t find a lawyer through personal referrals, here are a couple of other options:

Check with the Georgia Bar Association for information about lawyer referral services in Georgia.
Use the “Find a Lawyer” tool at the website of the National Employment Lawyers’ Association to find a lawyer specializing in unemployment claims in Georgia.
Check Nolo's lawyer directory (available through lawfirms.com) for names of employment lawyers in your zip code in Georgia.

more...

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Can My Employer Garnish My Wages in Georgia?

Your employer can garnish your wages in Georgia if ordered to do so. When an employer garnishes your wages, it withholds a portion of your pay and gives it to another person or business to whom you owe money. Under federal law, Georgia employers may garnish a portion of an employee’s wages because the employer has been ordered to do so by a court or through some other legal procedure by a creditor.

Your wages may be garnished in Georgia if you have:

unpaid credit card debt and the credit card company seeks repayment
failed to pay child or spousal support
defaulted on a student loan, or
unpaid taxes due and the taxing authority seeks payment.

Wage garnishment happens when an employee has an unpaid debt (unrelated to employment) and the creditor of the debt seeks payment. Generally speaking, your employer must garnish your wages when ordered to do so. But, there are limits on how much of your earnings may be garnished, and on how your employer responds to the garnishment. And, some states go further than federal law in limiting the amount an employer may withhold from your wages.

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What Can I Do If I Am Owed Pay in Georgia?

If you have an overtime, minimum wage violation, or other wage and hour claim against your employer, you can complain within your company, file a wage claim (in most states), or file a lawsuit to assert your rights.

If your employer has not paid you the full minimum wage, has not paid you overtime you earned, has not paid you for every hour worked, has required you to work through unpaid breaks, or has illegally kept your tips (among other things), you may have a legal claim for wage theft. Below, we explain the most common wage law violations and provide information on how to enforce your right to be paid fairly, and on time, for all of your work.

Common Wage and Overtime Violations

If your employer hasn’t paid you fully for every hour you have worked, you may have legal claims for violation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) or Georgia wage and hour law. Here are some common wage theft claims.

Are Shifts or Work Hours Regulated in Georgia?

Work hours may be regulated either by state or federal law. Regulation includes laws requiring employers to pay employees premium pay for overtime hours, or to give employees rest and/or meal breaks after a certain number of hours of work. In those states that do not regulate work hours, the Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets the work hours standards for employees in that state. Georgia does not regulate work hours. This means that the FLSA applies to employees in Georgia.

Does Georgia Require My Employer to Pay Me Overtime?

The FLSA regulates the maximum hours certain employees may work without extra, or overtime, pay. Georgia law does not require your employer to pay you overtime, but the FLSA may entitle you to overtime. For more information, see Am I Entitled to Overtime Pay in Georgia?

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How an Employment Lawyer Can Help You

You don’t have to hire a lawyer to help you negotiate with your employer about unpaid wages or overtime, file a wage claim, or even file a lawsuit in Georgia or federal court. At some point in the legal process, however, most people will want to at least consult with a lawyer. And, for many, it will make sense to hire a lawyer early on.

There are many ways an employment lawyer can help you with your legal claims for unpaid wages or overtime. A lawyer can help you by:

Figuring out whether your employer is breaking the law (that is, whether you have a claim in the first place).
Determining how much your employer owes you, including unpaid wages or overtime, other out-of-pocket expenses, and penalties.

What Will It Cost to Hire a Wage and Hour Lawyer?

If your employer (or former employer) already owes you unpaid wages, overtime, pay for breaks you had to work through, or other compensation you never received, you may be wondering whether you can afford to hire a lawyer to help you get your money back. The good news is that employment lawyers representing employees usually charge their clients on a contingency fee basis. This means the lawyer gets paid only if you win, out of the money you receive as a settlement or award.

Below, we explain how attorney fees and court costs work in a case for overtime or other unpaid wages.

Initial Consultation

Your first step in choosing an attorney – and deciding whether to move forward with your claims against your employer – is an initial consultation. The initial consultation provides you and the attorney an opportunity to decide whether and how you will work together.