2020 Georgia Code
Title 34 - Labor and Industrial Relations
Chapter 9 - Workers' Compensation
Article 4 - Insurance of Compensation Liability Generally
§ 34-9-120. Employer's Duty to Insure Payment of Compensation
Every employer subject to the compensation provisions of this chapter shall insure the payment of compensation to his employees in the manner provided in this article; and, while such insurance remains in force, he or those conducting his business shall be liable to any employee for personal injury or death by accident only to the extent and in the manner specified in this article.
(Ga. L. 1920, p. 167, § 11; Code 1933, § 114-601; Ga. L. 1972, p. 929, § 3.)
Law reviews.- For article surveying developments in Georgia workers' compensation law from mid-1980 through mid-1981, see 33 Mercer L. Rev. 323 (1981).
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Contract of insurance includes applicable provisions of Worker's Compensation Act.
- The provisions of the workers' compensation law (see now O.C.G.A. § 34-9-1 et seq.) as a matter of law become a part of the contract of insurance as if expressly incorporated therein. Walker v. Bituminous Cas. Corp., 74 Ga. App. 517, 40 S.E.2d 228 (1946).
Proof of negligence in failing to procure workers' compensation insurance is not required before employers can be held personally liable for payment of workers' compensation benefits. Sheehan v. Delaney, 238 Ga. App. 662, 521 S.E.2d 585 (1999).
Employer's obligation only to pay workers' compensation benefits to injured employee.
- Person who is compelled to pay damages because of liability imputed to the person as the result of a tort committed by another may maintain an action for indemnity against the person whose wrong has thus been imputed to that person. The plaintiff-employer in this case, however, has had no wrong imputed to it, nor does it otherwise have vicarious liability to its employee for the injuries allegedly inflicted by the defendant tortfeasor; its obligation to the employee is to pay workers' compensation benefits, an obligation which arises regardless of fault and is not shared by the defendant tortfeasor. North Ga. Elec. Membership Corp. v. Thomason & Holsomback Constr. Co., 157 Ga. App. 719, 278 S.E.2d 433 (1981).
Action against employer's agents for failure to procure insurance.
- When an employer has failed to carry workers' compensation insurance and has become insolvent, and the employer's agents' failure to procure such insurance coverage has rendered an injured employee's compensation award uncollectible, the employee may maintain an action at law against those individual agents for an amount equal to the award of the Workers' Compensation Board. Crawford v. Holt, 172 Ga. App. 326, 323 S.E.2d 245 (1984); Underwood v. Dunn, 221 Ga. App. 185, 470 S.E.2d 781 (1996).
Cited in Seibels, Bruce & Co. v. National Sur. Corp., 63 Ga. App. 520, 11 S.E.2d 705 (1940); Cotton States Mut. Ins. Co. v. Keefe, 215 Ga. 830, 113 S.E.2d 774 (1960); Bradshaw v. Glass, 252 Ga. 429, 314 S.E.2d 233 (1984); Kraemer v. Crook, 94 Bankr. 207 (N.D. Ga. 1988); Housing Auth. v. Jackson, 226 Ga. App. 182, 486 S.E.2d 54 (1997).
RESEARCH REFERENCES
Am. Jur. 2d.
- 82 Am. Jur. 2d, Workers' Compensation, § 478 et seq.
C.J.S.- 100 C.J.S., Workers' Compensation, § 870 et seq.
ALR.
- Workmen's compensation insurance premiums as within coverage of contractor's bond, 102 A.L.R. 135; 164 A.L.R. 1468.
Cancellation or attempted cancellation of insurance under Workmen's Compensation Act, 107 A.L.R. 1514.
Insurance under Workmen's Compensation Act as coextensive with insured's liability under act, 108 A.L.R. 812.
Rights and obligations under Workmen's Compensation Act in respect of claims by employees of corporation during receivership or conservatorship of employer, 111 A.L.R. 328.
Policy of workmen's compensation insurance issued to individual as covering employees of partnership of which he is a member, 114 A.L.R. 724.
Reinsurance of self-insurer under Workmen's Compensation Acts, 153 A.L.R. 967.
