A new Georgia law takes effect on July 1, 2023 (GA S 129), that provides employees time off to advance vote in primaries and elections. This new measure amends existing law and, among other things, provides time off for employees to advance vote and revises provisions related to time off
Articles About Georgia Labor And Employment Law.
Cap on Punitive Damages is Constitutional, Georgia Supreme Court Holds
A $250,000 cap in punitive damages is constitutional, the Georgia Supreme Court has confirmed, upholding the trial court’s decision to substantially reduce a $50 million verdict to $250,000. Taylor v. Devereux Found., Inc., Nos. S22A1060, S22X1061, 2023 Ga. LEXIS 63 (Mar. 15, 2023).
NONCOMPETE NEWS ALERT: APPLYING THE “JANITOR RULE,” A GEORGIA COURT STRIKES DOWN “IN ANY CAPACITY” NON-COMPETE
Prior to the enactment of Georgia’s Restrictive Covenant Act (“RCA”) in May 2011, Georgia courts uniformly held void and unenforceable “in any capacity” non-compete provisions in the employer-employee context. “In any capacity” non-competes are those provisions that prohibit an employee from working for a competitor in any capacity and not limited to the types of duties that the employee performed for his current employer. And under Georgia’s prior common law, a court was not allowed to revise an otherwise void and unenforceable provision to render it enforceable.
Atlanta Amends Anti-Discrimination Ordinance to Include Protections for Gender Expression and Criminal Histories
The City Council of Atlanta, Georgia recently passed an ordinance that amends its existing anti-discrimination law to include protection on the basis of “criminal history status” as well as “gender expression.” The ordinance is effective immediately.
With regard to gender expression, the law simply amends existing law to include
Non-Compete News: Georgia Court Holds Non-compete and Non-solicit of Employee Provisions With Missing Territory Unenforceable and Void
Earlier this year, in Steuer v. Tomaras, et al., Georgia’s Statewide Business Court again refused to modify certain restrictive covenants that were missing a territory. Dr. Steuer, a former partner of the defendant doctors, sought to enforce restrictive covenants. The doctor defendants sought to declare the non-compete and non-solicit provisions contained in the agreements unenforceable.
New Georgia Employment Laws Change Definition of Employment, Restrict Local Laws Regulating Work Hours
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has signed into law two measures addressing the employment relationship. The first, Act 809 (H.B. 389), alters the definition of employment for purposes of unemployment benefits.
3 Ga. Bills That Died In The Latest Legislative Session
Atlanta Partner, Rick Warren, was featured in the Law360 Pulse article, “3 Ga. Bills That Died In The Legislative Session.”
In the article, Rick discusses why Georgia legislators rejected state bill H.B. 1389 or the “Georgia Safe Workplaces Act,” in the last legislative session.
Non-Compete News: Georgia Appeals Court Clarifies What Constitutes Appropriate Definition of Territory In Non-Compete Under RCA
Last month, in American Plumbing Professionals, Inc. v. ServeStar, LLC, Georgia’s Court of Appeals reversed a trial court’s determination that a non-compete provision was unenforceable and void because its territory was too broad. The non-compete at issue defined the geographic restriction as “the territory where Employee provided services on behalf of [the employer] during the last twelve months of his or her employment,” which extended “throughout those parts of the United States of America where [the employer] transacts business.”
Non-Compete News: Federal Court in Georgia Finds Customer Contact Information May Be a Trade Secret, Interprets Customer and Employee Non-Solicit Provisions under Georgia’s Restrictive Covenants Act
In Tanium v. Yago et al., the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia recently reminded us of a few things: (1) customer contact information can constitute a trade secret; (2) the Georgia Restrictive Covenant Act (“RCA”) provides a court greater freedom to modify an otherwise overbroad restriction; (3) a non-solicit of employees provision may be liberally enforced; and (4) bad acts performed by an employee prior to his departure from a company influence how a court rules.
GA District Court’s Federal Contractor Vaccine Mandate Injunction Upheld by Eleventh Circuit – Should Federal Contractors Now Worry About ETS?
On December 7, 2021, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia issued a preliminary nationwide injunction enjoining the enforcement of Executive Order 14042’s federal contractor vaccine mandate. The government promptly appealed the order to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and also moved to stay the injunction.
Georgia Courts Cannot Toll Duration of Noncompete Agreement, Even Against Willful Violator
Since the passage of the Georgia Restrictive Covenants Act (O.C.G.A. § 13-8-50 et seq.) in May 2011, there has been some level of uncertainty regarding the extent to which a court may “blue pencil” or modify an otherwise unenforceable covenant, including whether a court may extend the restrictions period of
Non-Compete News: Georgia Courts Cannot Extend Non-Compete Beyond Its Terms
The more things change, the more they stay the same. That adage is apparent in Georgia’s non-compete law, which had a major overhaul in May 2011, when Georgia’s Restrictive Covenant Act (RCA) became effective. The RCA applies to restrictive covenant agreements entered into after May 2011, whereas Georgia’s well-developed common law applies to agreements entered into prior to that date. Nevertheless, prior common law themes play out time and again in Georgia courts’ interpretation of the RCA. One such theme is that a court is not allowed to extend a non-compete provision beyond the terms drafted in the agreement.
Georgia 2021: Unemployment Benefit Developments
Georgia employers may be experiencing some whiplash from the latest updates to the state’s unemployment and partial unemployment rules and regulations in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Atlanta Mayor Issues Indoor Mask Mandate Due to CDC Guidance and Increase in COVID-19 Cases
On July 28, 2021, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms issued an indoor mask mandate via executive order that requires “all persons in an entity or a public place [to] wear a facial covering or mask over the mouth and nose at all times when indoors.”
Non-Compete News: Restrictive Covenant Act Case Decided by Georgia State-Wide Business Court
In May 2011, Georgia’s Restrictive Covenant Act (OCGA 13-8-50 et seq.) (“RCA”) became effective and applied to all agreements executed on or after May 11, 2011.
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