Rule 80-14-4-.02 - Restrictions on Employment and Licensing(1) No person who has been an owner, director, trustee, or executive officer of a licensee that has had its license revoked, denied, or suspended, may perform any of those roles at another licensee for five years from the date of the final order.(2) Felony convictions; restrictions on the employee and the licensee: (a) Licensees are responsible for ensuring that no convicted felons are covered employees or direct the affairs of their business.(b) O.C.G.A. § 7-3-42 provides for remedies to cure a felony conviction. These remedies must be completed and in place prior to employment. Hiring or continuing to employ a covered employee with an unremedied felony conviction subjects a licensee to revocation of its license.(c) For purposes of O.C.G.A. §§ 7-3-31 and 7-3-42, "agent" means any person who appears to the public or to a regulatory agency as acting for or on behalf of a licensee to the extent the licensee is engaged in the business of making installment loans.(d) If a licensee discovers that a covered employee or director/officer is a felon at the time of hire or subsequently becomes a felon and has not satisfactorily cured the conviction, the violation of O.C.G.A. § 7-3-42 must be immediately corrected or the license will be subject to revocation. Such individuals with felony convictions are ineligible for an employee exemption and are in violation of O.C.G.A. §§ 7-3-4 and 7-3-50. The licensee employer is also in violation of O.C.G.A. § 7-3-4 in such circumstance.(e) A cease and desist order to a person for failure to meet the employee exemption due to a violation of the felony provisions of O.C.G.A. § 7-3-42 shall become final in 30 days without a hearing pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 7-3-45. Such a person must show within those 30 days, by certified court documents that the record is erroneous, or, that the cure provisions in O.C.G.A. § 7-3-42 were completed prior to employment, in order to stop the order from becoming final. In the event such proof is provided, the order will be rescinded.(3) Cease and desist orders may be issued against persons required to be licensed or against employees of those parties. All of the provisions of O.C.G.A. §§ 7-3-45 and 7-3-46, including injunction, apply to actions against all such persons.(4) For purposes of O.C.G.A. §§ 7-3-31 and 7-3-43(b)(1), "misrepresentation" means making a false statement of a substantive fact or intentionally engaging in any conduct which leads to a false belief which is material to the transaction.Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 80-14-4-.02
O.C.G.A. §§ 7-3-4, 7-3-42, 7-3-43, 7-3-45, 7-3-46, 7-3-47.
Original Rule entitled "Restrictions on Employment and Licensing" adopted. F. Aug. 19, 2020; eff. Sept. 8, 2020.