Eligibility

• Under Georgia law, employers with three or more employees, whether full or part time, must provide workers' compensation insurance. Exceptions to this law include government agencies, farm workers, domestic servants and railroad carriers. Workers have coverage from the first day of employment. However, workers' compensation covers employees only, not those working as freelancers or independent contractors.
  
  

Insurance

• Employers must purchase workers' compensation insurance from an insurance broker or through the National Council on Compensation Insurance for the Georgia Assigned Risk Pool coverage. Georgia does not have a state workers' compensation insurance fund. Employers may also self-insure for workers' compensation through the Georgia Self-Insurers Guaranty Trust Fund if approved by the State Board of Workers' Compensation. By law, employers must post information about workers' compensation insurance and related medical service providers in a prominent area of the workplace.
  
  

Benefits

• All medical treatment related to the on-the-job injury or related illness are paid by workers' compensation insurance, not regular health insurance coverage. Workers may receive benefits if unable to work more than seven days after the injury. Such benefits may be up to 2/3 of a week's pay, up to a $500 maximum in 2011. Per medical certification, workers may receive benefits for up to 400 weeks, or the rest of their lives if deemed permanently and totally disabled. The dependents of workers who die from injuries may receive 2/3 of the decedent's weekly wages up to the $500 maximum. A widowed spouse without children may only receive payments up to a maximum of $150,000. Such payments stop in the case of remarriage or cohabitating in a "meretricious relationship."
  
  

Hearings

• A worker accepting workers' compensation benefits generally gives up the right to sue the employer. However, if liability questions arise or factual concerns regarding the claim arise, the worker, the employer or the insurance company may ask for a hearing before a state administrative law judge. Any decision may be reviewed by the Appellate Division. "Further appeals may be taken through the court system; however, the courts can review only disputed questions of law, while administrative law judges and the Appellate Division determine both factual and legal issues," according to the State Board of Workers' Compensation. Both the employee or employer may also request mediation to resolve issues.