Work · Pay transparency
Pay Transparency Law in Georgia
Whether an employer in Georgia must disclose the salary range, where it has to appear, who it covers, and what to do if a posting hides the pay. This is separate from your right to discuss wages with coworkers. Cited to the statute.
What the pay transparency law requires in Georgia
Who must disclose the range, where it has to appear, and the situations the rule does not reach.
Pay-transparency law is expanding fast nationally, but Georgia currently has no disclosure duty and preempts local wage mandates. Confirm the current status of O.C.G.A. § 34-4-3.1 and watch for any new legislation before relying on the absence of a rule.
| What the law requires | What it means |
|---|---|
| No posting duty of any kind | Nothing in O.C.G.A. Title 34 requires a salary range, a pay scale, or an hourly rate to appear in a job advertisement, at any employer size, in any industry. Georgia’s minimum-wage and equal-pay chapters were read in full and neither carries a disclosure rule. |
| Salary-history questions are lawful | Georgia has no salary-history ban. An employer here may ask what an applicant currently earns, may ask a prior employer, and may set the offer by reference to the answer, subject only to general anti-discrimination law. |
| Local governments cannot fill the gap on wages | Under O.C.G.A. § 34-4-3.1(b), any wage or employment-benefit mandate a Georgia county or city adopts is preempted, and none may be adopted going forward. Subsection (d) extends the same treatment to hours and scheduling. |
| The preemption is written around wages, not questions | Section 34-4-3.1(a)(6) defines the preempted thing as a requirement that an employer pay a wage or provide benefits not otherwise required by law. A rule forbidding an interview question would not require the employer to pay anything, so on the statute’s face a local salary-history ban is not covered. No Georgia city has tested the point. |
| Where it does not apply | What it means |
|---|---|
| A local government’s own employees | The preemption is directed at what a local government may impose on private employers. It does not stop a Georgia city from setting whatever pay and benefits it likes for people on its own payroll. |
| Hours of operation | Subsection (d)(3) says a local government may still regulate or limit the hours a business may operate. Georgia distinguishes regulating a business’s opening hours, which is allowed, from regulating an employee’s shift, which is not. |
| Another state’s law can still reach the job | A remote role that could be performed from a state with a posting law, such as California, New York, or Illinois, can trigger that state’s disclosure rule even when the employer sits in Georgia. The absence of a Georgia law does not cancel another state’s requirement. |
What you can do right now
Concrete, neutral steps if a job in Georgia hides the pay range. This is legal information, not legal advice.
- Do not expect a range on a Georgia posting
A Georgia employer is not breaking state law by advertising a job with no salary information. If pay matters to you, raise it early in the process.
- Ask about pay directly
Since nothing forces disclosure, the practical step is to ask for the expected range for the role. The employer is not legally required to answer, but many will.
- Check whether another state’s law applies
If the role is remote and could be performed from a state with a posting law, that state’s rule may require a range even though the company is based in Georgia.
- Do not count on a local rule
Because § 34-4-3.1 preempts local wage mandates, a Georgia city is unlikely to adopt a posting requirement, so the state-level answer is what governs.
If a posting omits a required pay range, the state labor department takes complaints and can explain how the rule is enforced and any penalty.
→ Georgia Department of LaborThis is general legal information, not legal advice. Coverage turns on employer size and where the job can be performed, so confirm your situation against the statute.
What workers in Georgia get wrong about pay transparency
Georgia does not require an employer to disclose a salary range, and it is unusually firm about keeping things that way. No provision of O.C.G.A. Title 34 makes a private employer put a pay range in a job posting, share one with an applicant, or answer on request, and Georgia has no salary-history ban either. The two chapters that could carry such a rule, the Minimum Wage Law in Chapter 4 and the sex-discrimination-in-employment chapter in Chapter 5, are short, and both complete section lists were read without finding one. What Georgia does have is a preemption statute. O.C.G.A. § 34-4-3.1, rewritten in 2022 as the Protecting Georgia Businesses and Workers Act, forbids counties, cities, and other local governments from imposing wage mandates, employment-benefit mandates, or scheduling rules on private employers, and it closes the contracting side door as well. That preemption is written around wages rather than around interview questions, so a local salary-history ban is probably not covered on the text, but no Georgia city has tried, so the point is untested. For now, disclosing a salary range in Georgia is a choice an employer makes, not a rule it follows. This is legal information, not legal advice.
Common questions
Does Georgia require salary ranges in job postings?
No. Georgia has no pay-transparency law, so a private employer is not required to put a salary range in a job posting. Disclosure is voluntary under state law.
Does Georgia ban salary-history questions?
No. Georgia has no salary-history ban. An employer here may ask what an applicant currently earns and may set the offer accordingly, subject only to general anti-discrimination law.
Can a Georgia city pass its own pay-transparency rule?
A wage mandate is preempted by O.C.G.A. § 34-4-3.1(b). A local salary-history ban is arguably not covered by that text, but no Georgia city has adopted one, so the question is untested.
Could another state pay-transparency law apply to a Georgia job?
Yes. A remote role that could be performed from a state with a posting law, such as California, New York, or Illinois, can require the range even if the employer is based in Georgia.
What does O.C.G.A. § 34-4-3.1 actually do?
It preempts Georgia counties and cities from requiring private employers to pay a wage or provide benefits beyond what state or federal law requires, and it extends the same limit to hours and scheduling.
Not legal advicePlainStatute provides plain-language summaries of public law for general information only. This is not legal advice. Statutes change; always confirm current requirements with the official source linked above before acting.