(a) Any department or agency of the state is authorized to deduct voluntarily designated amounts from the salaries or wages of its full-time employees for the purpose of payment of insurance premiums to a designated insurance company or designated insurance companies which are licensed to do business in Georgia by the Commissioner of Insurance. No such deduction shall be made without the approval of the head of the department or agency employing the designating employee. No such deductions shall be made unless at least 15 percent of the full-time employees of a department or agency request such deductions which are to be paid to a particular insurance company. No such deductions shall be made without individual written requests of the employees, which requests shall designate the exact amount which is to be deducted. Any employee who consents to such a deduction is authorized to terminate the deduction upon two weeks' written notice. Each department head may discontinue allowing such deductions upon reasonable notice to the company and his employees.

(b) The fiscal authorities or other employees of the various departments or agencies of the state will not incur any liability for errors or omissions made in the performance of the payroll deduction agreement between the department or agency and the employees, provided that no fiscal authority or employee of this state is protected from criminal or civil liability for conversion, theft by conversion, theft by taking, theft by extortion, theft by deception, or any other intentional misappropriation of the moneys or property of another for his own use.