Paid Sick Leave in Georgia: Who Qualifies and How Much You Earn

Georgia does not require private employers to provide paid sick leave. There is no Georgia statute setting an accrual rate, an hours-worked threshold, or an annual cap for earning sick time. Whether you get paid sick days at all, how fast you accrue them, and how many you can carry over is determined entirely by your employer's own policy or your union or employment contract. Georgia's one related law is its "kin care" statute (O.C.G.A. § 34-1-10): if an employer already chooses to offer paid sick leave and has 25 or more employees, it must let eligible workers use up to five days of that earned leave each year to care for an immediate family member — but the law never forces the employer to create the leave in the first place.

Does Georgia Mandate Paid Sick Leave?

No. Unlike states such as California, New York, Colorado, or New Jersey, Georgia has not enacted a paid-sick-leave mandate. Private-sector employers in Georgia are free to offer paid sick leave, unpaid sick leave, a combined paid-time-off (PTO) bank, or no sick benefit at all. Because there is no state mandate, there is no state-set accrual formula (for example, "one hour for every 30 hours worked") and no statutory maximum. Those terms exist only if your employer writes them into a handbook, offer letter, or collective bargaining agreement.

At the federal level there is also no general paid-sick-leave requirement. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets a federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour and requires overtime after 40 hours in a workweek for non-exempt employees, but it does not require any paid sick days, paid vacation, or paid holidays. So for most Georgia workers, paid sick leave is a benefit, not a legal entitlement.

Georgia's Kin Care Law: The One Real Rule

The closest thing Georgia has to a sick-leave statute is the Georgia Family Care Act, codified at O.C.G.A. § 34-1-10. It does not require employers to provide sick leave. Instead, it governs how existing employer-provided sick leave can be used. Key points:

• Who is covered: Employers with 25 or more employees that already provide paid sick leave to their workers.
• Which employees qualify: Employees who work at least 30 hours per week and who have available, already-accrued employer sick leave.
• How much: Up to five days of earned sick leave per calendar year may be used to care for an immediate family member, rather than only for the employee's own illness.
• Immediate family member: The statute defines this to include the employee's child, spouse, grandchild, grandparent, parent, or any dependent shown on the employee's most recent tax return.

Importantly, the five-day kin care allowance is not extra leave on top of your bank — it comes out of the sick leave you have already accrued under your employer's plan. The law also does not apply to employees covered by certain ERISA-governed benefit plans, and it does not create a private right to sue in the way some employees expect. It mainly constrains how an employer that voluntarily offers sick pay must allow that pay to be used.

Accrual Rate and Caps

Because Georgia sets no statutory accrual rate, the answer to "how much do I earn?" is: whatever your employer's policy says. Common private-employer arrangements you may see in Georgia include a fixed number of sick days granted up front each year, an hourly accrual model (such as a set number of hours earned per pay period), or a single PTO bank covering both vacation and illness. None of these are required by Georgia law, and the employer may set its own caps, carryover limits, waiting periods, and rules on whether unused time is paid out at separation. Read your handbook carefully, because the document controls.

Local Ordinances

Do not expect a city or county in Georgia to fill the gap. Georgia law preempts local governments from requiring private employers to provide leave or to exceed the state position on wages and benefits. Under O.C.G.A. § 34-4-3a, local governments generally may not mandate that private employers offer particular employment benefits, including paid leave, beyond what state or federal law requires. As a practical matter, there is no Atlanta, Savannah, or Augusta paid-sick-leave ordinance for private workers comparable to those in some other states' cities. Local mandates that do exist tend to apply only to that government's own public employees, not to private companies.

How Sick Leave Interacts With PTO and the FMLA

Many Georgia employers fold sick time into a single PTO bank. When they do, the kin care rule still applies if the employer has 25 or more employees and the PTO functions as paid sick leave — the employee can use up to five days of that accrued time for a covered family member. If your employer offers a combined PTO bank with no separate "sick" designation, check how the policy labels and permits use of the time.

Paid sick leave is different from job-protected family and medical leave. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) entitles eligible employees to up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period for a serious health condition, to care for a close family member with a serious health condition, or for the birth or placement of a child. FMLA applies to private employers with 50 or more employees within 75 miles, and to employees who have worked at least 12 months and 1,250 hours. FMLA does not require pay, but an employer may require — or an employee may choose — to substitute accrued paid sick leave or PTO during FMLA leave. Georgia has no separate state family-leave statute that expands on the FMLA for private workers.

How to Enforce Your Rights

If your employer offers paid sick leave but refuses to let you use up to five days for a qualifying immediate family member, that may violate O.C.G.A. § 34-1-10. Start by documenting your accrued balance, your written request, and the employer's response in writing. Raise the issue through your employer's HR or grievance process, and keep copies of the handbook language. Because Georgia's statute is narrow, many disputes about earned sick time are ultimately contract or policy disputes rather than statutory claims, so the written policy and any promises in your offer letter matter a great deal.

For FMLA violations — such as being denied eligible leave or retaliated against for taking it — you can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, which enforces both the FMLA and the FLSA. For wage questions or to learn about Georgia-specific labor rules, contact the Georgia Department of Labor, the state's workforce and labor agency. Confirm any wage figure, such as the federal $7.25 minimum that applies to most Georgia workers as of 2026, against the U.S. Department of Labor and the Georgia Department of Labor before relying on it, since rates and rules can change.

Bottom Line for Georgia Workers

Georgia gives you no guaranteed paid sick days. Your real protections are your employer's own policy, the narrow kin care right to use up to five earned sick days a year for an immediate family member if your employer has 25 or more employees and already offers sick pay, and the unpaid, job-protected leave the federal FMLA provides at larger employers. Read your handbook, keep written records, and verify current rules with the Georgia Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Labor.

Official Georgia Sources

This page is based on Georgia employment law. Rules and figures change — verify the current details directly with the official Georgia sources below. This is general legal information, not legal advice.

• Georgia Department of Labor — official Georgia agency.
• Obtain Information About An Employment Issue (Georgia Department of Labor)

Federal law and local ordinances may also apply. Federal laws like the Fair Labor Standards Act set a national floor, and your city or county may add protections (such as a higher local minimum wage or paid sick leave). Check both alongside Georgia state law.