New hiring laws in Georgia for 2027: caregiver background checks, First Offender records, licensing preclearance and what employers do next

As of November 2026, Georgia's 2026 General Assembly passed no broad new hiring mandate, but several acts change screening and onboarding in specific settings. Since July 1, 2026, HB 1097 requires fingerprint background and registry checks for owners, applicants and direct access staff of certain mental health and substance use facilities, HB 162 narrows what the state releases about First Offender sentences, and SB 570 requires hotel and inn staff to complete human trafficking training within 60 days of hire. HB 463 adds employer reporting of overtime and cash tips for the 2026 tax year, and from July 1, 2027, SB 207 lets people with records ask a licensing board in advance whether their record will disqualify them.

Georgia added no pay transparency, salary history, AI hiring or private-employer ban-the-box law in 2026. Every item below is an act of the 2026 session, linked to the signed act on the Governor's site, with the act number and effective date from the Office of Legislative Counsel's Summary of General Statutes Enacted at the 2026 Session. The standing checklist (Department of Labor and Department of Revenue accounts, the G-4, new-hire reports, E-Verify affidavits) is in our Georgia hiring hub; this page is the dated list of what is new.

Which Georgia hiring laws changed in 2026, and what changes in 2027?

Georgia acts and the federal rules that apply to Georgia employers, sorted by date.

Which Georgia employers must run the new HB 1097 background checks?

HB 1097 adds Article 8 to O.C.G.A. Chapter 37-1, with the checks run through the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. It covers three kinds of licensed facility: community living arrangements, drug abuse treatment and education programs, and adult residential mental health programs. An applicant for a direct access job, including housekeepers, maintenance staff and dietitians who are hired directly or by contract, must consent to a national and state check made up of a registry check, a check with the professional licensing board where one applies, and a fingerprint check through the Georgia Crime Information Center and the FBI. A person who appears on a registry or receives an ineligible determination may not be employed, and a facility that keeps such a person on after it knew or should have known faces a civil penalty of $500 a day, up to $10,000.

Every employment application form these facilities hand out must now say, conspicuously: "FOR THIS TYPE OF EMPLOYMENT, STATE LAW REQUIRES A NATIONAL AND STATE BACKGROUND CHECK AS A CONDITION OF EMPLOYMENT." Recruiters filling these roles should build the fingerprint step into the start date and tell candidates about it at the first screen. The broader rules for running checks in Georgia, including the GCIC consent and notice, are in Georgia background check laws.

What did HB 162 change about First Offender records?

Georgia already kept successfully completed First Offender sentences out of the records it releases for most employment checks. HB 162 moves that point earlier. From July 1, 2026, once a person sentenced under the First Offender Act has completed active probation supervision, the GCIC "shall not provide records of arrests, charges, or sentences" for the rest of the sentence, except as O.C.G.A. 42-8-63.1 specifically allows. When the person is discharged, the court file is restricted without a separate petition, and people discharged before July 1, 2026 may petition the court to seal their court records.

For employers, the practical effect is fewer First Offender entries in state results, so a candidate's honest answer that they have no conviction will more often match the report. The federal EEOC rescinded its 2012 arrest and conviction records guidance on October 28, 2026 (EEOC release); Title VII still applies, and a job-related review using the Green factors from the 1975 Eighth Circuit case (the nature and gravity of the offense, the time since it and the nature of the job) remains a sound way to decide and document. City rules such as Atlanta's are covered in Georgia ban-the-box rules.

What does SB 207 change for licensed occupations in 2027?

SB 207 (Act 628) sets up a "preclearance process" for people with criminal records who apply to professional licensing boards. Parts I through IV take effect July 1, 2027 and apply to license applications submitted from that date. A person may petition a board for a predetermination "at any time, including while incarcerated and before starting or completing any required professional qualifications for licensure." Boards apply a direct relationship standard, must hold a hearing within 60 days before deciding a petitioner is likely ineligible, must decide within 60 days after that, and must tell the person what they can do to remedy a disqualification. A favorable predetermination binds the board if the record is unchanged when the person applies. Boards must also publish whether they require a criminal record check and the standard they use.

The same parts let a person who pleaded guilty to a felony under the First Offender Act and completed the sentence be certified and employed as a firefighter, at the Georgia Firefighter Standards and Training Council's discretion. Employers sponsoring trainees into licensed trades and health roles can point candidates with records to the predetermination route before they spend money on training.

What new onboarding and payroll duties started in 2026?

• Hotel and inn training. SB 570 (O.C.G.A. 43-21-16) requires "all on-site employees of an inn" and every third-party manager of a short-term rental to complete human trafficking awareness training "within 60 days of employment" and annually, finishing by December 31 in the first full year. Training records must be kept for the length of employment plus one year and produced to the Attorney General within ten business days of a written request. Staffing agencies that place housekeeping or front desk workers at hotels should agree with the client who delivers and records the training.
• Overtime and tip reporting. HB 463 excludes up to $1,750 of qualified overtime received by full-time hourly employees (tax years 2026 through 2028) and up to $1,750 of cash tips. Each employer must submit the totals and the number of employees paid, monthly or quarterly with its withholding returns, "except that such data may be provided at the end of the year for the 2026 tax year." Payroll systems need a way to tag both.
• Confidentiality clauses. HB 1187 (O.C.G.A. 9-11-63) makes a nondisclosure provision in an employment agreement, settlement or other agreement "void and unenforceable" to the extent it stops a person from disclosing an act of childhood sexual abuse. Check offer letter and separation templates.
• Contractor benefits. HB 987, the Voluntary Portable Benefit Plan Act, lets any business, including an app-based platform, contribute to an independent contractor's portable benefit account. Withholding from the contractor's pay needs a written, prominently displayed opt-in that the contractor can end at any time, and contributions do not by themselves make the business an employer or the work "employment" under Georgia's Employment Security Law.
• Medical cannabis. SB 220 renames low THC oil "medical cannabis" and keeps the rule that employers need not permit or accommodate it; the testing details are in Georgia drug testing laws.

What did Georgia not change in 2026?

• No state hiring tax credit. HB 519, which would have mirrored the federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit against Georgia income tax, was vetoed (Veto No. 3 in the 2026 summary).
• No pay range or salary history law for private employers; see Georgia pay transparency and Georgia salary history rules.
• E-Verify rules for private employers did not change; see E-Verify requirements in Georgia.
• Non-competes are still governed by O.C.G.A. 13-8-50 to 13-8-59, which no 2026 act amended; see Georgia non-compete law.
• Recording interviews still needs one party's consent; see Georgia recording consent for interviews.

What should Georgia employers do before January 1, 2027?

1. Set up overtime and tip tracking so the 2026 year-end report to the Department of Revenue can be filed, and plan monthly or quarterly reporting from 2027.
2. Update application forms for any covered behavioral health facility with the HB 1097 statement, and schedule fingerprints before start dates.
3. Confirm SB 570 training for every on-site hotel or inn employee hired since July 1, 2026.
4. Review confidentiality clauses in offer, settlement and separation templates under HB 1187.
5. Refresh criminal history procedures: remove references to the 2012 EEOC guidance, record a job-related reason for each decision, and expect fewer First Offender results.
6. Check Form I-9 editions and work permit dates under the federal changes in the table.

What does this mean for staffing agencies in Georgia?

Agencies are affected where they are the employer of record: they report overtime and tips for their own temporary workers under HB 463, and where they place direct access staff in a covered facility, the worker still needs the HB 1097 checks before the first shift. Agencies placing hotel staff should settle SB 570 training and recordkeeping in the client contract. Georgia still has no general staffing agency license; see our Georgia staffing agency guide and, for agencies acting as employer of record, employer of record in Georgia. Changes in other states are in new hiring laws for 2027.