2020 Georgia Code
Title 34 - Labor and Industrial Relations
Chapter 7 - Employment Generally; Employer's Liability
Article 2 - Employer's Liability for Injuries Generally
§ 34-7-22. Contracts Exempting Employer From Liability Are Null and Void

All contracts between employer and employee made in consideration of employment, whereby the employer is exempted from liability to the employee arising from the negligence of the employer or his employees, as such liability is fixed by law, shall be null and void, as against public policy.

(Ga. L. 1895, p. 97, § 1; Civil Code 1895, § 2613; Civil Code 1910, § 3132; Code 1933, § 66-302.)

- Contracts which contravene public policy generally, § 13-8-2.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Contracts for benefits in case of injury.

- Contract between an employee and a master, or another acting in the latter's interest, by the terms of which the employee when physically injured, whether as a result of the employee's own negligence or not, or when sick, is to receive pecuniary and other valuable benefits, and which stipulates that the employee's voluntary acceptance of any of such benefits in case of injury is to operate as a release of the master from all liability on account thereof, is not contrary to public policy. Petty v. Brunswick & W. Ry., 109 Ga. 666, 35 S.E. 82 (1900); Houser v. Savannah Elec. Co., 9 Ga. App. 766, 72 S.E. 276 (1911).

- In a suit brought by an independent contractor against a billboard owner seeking to recover for injuries that the contractor sustained upon falling from the owner's billboard, O.C.G.A. § 34-7-22 did not apply to preclude the application of a waiver paragraph in a contract between the parties because the facts were undisputed that the contractor was an independent contractor, not an employee of the owner. Holmes v. Clear Channel Outdoor, Inc., 298 Ga. App. 178, 679 S.E.2d 745 (2009).

Cited in New v. Southern Ry., 116 Ga. 147, 42 S.E. 391, 59 L.R.A. 115 (1902); Brown v. Five Points Parking Ctr., 121 Ga. App. 819, 175 S.E.2d 901 (1970).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 27 Am. Jur. 2d, Employment Relationship, §§ 199, 200.

- Validity of contract providing that acceptance of benefits from relief association shall bar action against employer, 12 A.L.R. 477.

Personal liability of servant or agent to third person for injuries caused by the performance or nonperformance of his duties to his employer, 20 A.L.R. 97; 99 A.L.R. 408; 96 A.L.R.2d 208.

Constitutionality of statute relating to release of, or contract of employment for the enforcement of, claims for personal injuries or death, or invalidating contracts exonerating an employer from liability in respect of injury to employee, 84 A.L.R. 1297.

Personal liability of auctioneer to owner or mortgagee for conversion, 96 A.L.R.2d 208.

Provision in employment contract requiring written notice before instituting action, 4 A.L.R.3d 439.

Validity, enforceability, and effect of provision in seamen's employment contract stipulating the maximum recovery for scheduled personal injuries, 9 A.L.R.3d 417.

What constitutes duress by employer or former employer vitiating employee's release of employer from claims arising out of employment, 30 A.L.R.4th 294.