2022 Legislative Update

Two important pieces of legislation passed in the last session of the Georgia Assembly:

HB 1390 provides an employee of a county or municipality with a right of action against his or her employer for retaliation if the employee is terminated, suspended or demoted for reporting sexual harassment.

HB 961 amends Georgia’s apportionment statute so that in actions involving one or more persons, damages are apportioned according to the percentage of fault of each person. HB 961 is in response to the Supreme Court of Georgia’s decision in Alston & Bird LLP v. Hatcher Management Holdings, LLC, which found that O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33(b) does not allow a reduction of damages based on a jury’s allocation of fault to a nonparty in a case brought against a single defendant. Governor Kemp signed this bill into law on May 13, 2022. The new law applies to all cases filed on or after May 14, 2022.