2020 Georgia Code
Title 34 - Labor and Industrial Relations
Chapter 9 - Workers' Compensation
Article 6 - Payment of Compensation
Part 3 - Limitations on Payment
§ 34-9-245. Repayment of Overpayment by Claimant

Should the board find that a claimant has received an overpayment of income benefits from the employer, for any reason, the board shall have the authority to order repayment on terms acceptable to the parties or within the discretion of the board. No claim for reimbursement shall be allowed where the application for reimbursement is filed more than two years from the date such overpayment was made.

(Code 1981, §34-9-245, enacted by Ga. L. 1999, p. 817, § 6.)

- For annual survey of workers' compensation law, see 58 Mercer L. Rev. 453 (2006). For survey article on workers' compensation law, see 60 Mercer L. Rev. 433 (2008).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

De novo standard of review.

- In reviewing a decision by the State Board of Workers' Compensation (board), the trial court correctly employed a de novo standard of review when determining whether O.C.G.A. § 34-9-245 was a statute of repose rather than a statute of limitation, as that matter involved a legal interpretation of a statute; the court was obligated to employ the "any evidence" standard when determining whether the findings by the board that an award of attorney fees to an insurer, a civil penalty assessment to an employee, and a referral of the matter to the Enforcement Division of the board were proper. Trax-Fax, Inc. v. Hobba, 277 Ga. App. 464, 627 S.E.2d 90 (2006).

- State Board of Workers' Compensation properly held that an employer was entitled to a credit for overpayments made to a claimant, but only for those made within the two years prior to the employer's request for reimbursement; O.C.G.A. § 34-9-245 was intended as a statute of repose, and thus giving the employer credit for overpayments made more than two years before its request for reimbursement would allow offsets against future payments when there was no legally cognizant basis for reimbursement. Renu Thrift Store, Inc. v. Figueroa, 286 Ga. App. 455, 649 S.E.2d 528 (2007), cert. dismissed, 2007 Ga. LEXIS 812 (Ga. 2007).

- O.C.G.A. § 34-9-245 is a statute of repose, rather than a statute of limitations, and can be applied retroactively, pursuant to the legislative intent and the wording of the statute; accordingly, an award of reimbursement of benefits paid to an employee was proper when the employee's accident occurred one year prior to the enactment of § 34-9-245, and preclusion of reimbursement for any overpayments made prior to the two-year period was proper. Trax-Fax, Inc. v. Hobba, 277 Ga. App. 464, 627 S.E.2d 90 (2006).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

ALR.

- Validity, and applicability to causes of action, of statute shortening limitation period or period of repose, 76 A.L.R.6th 31.

ARTICLE 7 COMPENSATION SCHEDULES

Law reviews.

- For note on the 2000 amendments of O.C.G.A. §§ 34-9-261,34-9-262,34-9-265, see 17 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 231 (2000). For annual survey on workers' compensation law, see 66 Mercer L. Rev. 247 (2014).

It is extent of injury received by employee which determines compensation which the employee shall receive. Travelers' Ins. Co. v. Hurt, 176 Ga. 153, 167 S.E. 175 (1932).

Cited in Glynn County Bd. of Comm'rs v. Mimbs, 161 Ga. App. 350, 291 S.E.2d 62 (1982).

Word "wages" is not synonymous with retirement or disability benefits or other monthly pensions. 1971 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 71-136.

- When an award is made based upon a percentage of loss-of- earnings, the benefit may be reduced when the employee subsequently receives an increase in earnings. 1960-61 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 589.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

ALR.

- Workmen's compensation: deductions allowable in computing earnings as basis of compensation, 22 A.L.R. 864.

Survival of right to compensation under workmen's compensation acts upon the death of the person entitled to the award, 24 A.L.R. 441; 29 A.L.R. 1426; 51 A.L.R. 1446; 87 A.L.R. 864; 95 A.L.R. 254.

Previous loss or mutilation of member as affecting amount or basis of compensation under Workmen's Compensation Act, 30 A.L.R. 979.

Retroactive effort of provision for reduction or increase of award under Workmen's Compensation Act, 40 A.L.R. 1473.

Workmen's compensation: double compensation to dependents in case of death of two or more, 45 A.L.R. 894.

Specific grounds for commutation of payments under Workmen's Compensation Acts, 69 A.L.R. 547.

Tips or gratuities as factor in determining amount of compensation under Workmen's Compensation Act, 75 A.L.R. 1223.

Board and lodging as a factor in determining the amount of compensation under Workmen's Compensation Act, 84 A.L.R. 188.

Time as of which earnings are to be considered in computing compensation for an injury or incapacity ultimately resulting from causes not immediately operative, 86 A.L.R. 524.

Marriage as terminating right to future payments of workmen's compensation to injured female employee, 96 A.L.R. 976.

Settlement of claim or recovery against physician or surgeon or one responsible for his malpractice on account of aggravation of injury as affecting right to compensation under Workmen's Compensation Act, 98 A.L.R. 1392.

Workmen's compensation: payment, or period of payment, for separate compensable injuries as concurrent or consecutive, 99 A.L.R. 896.

Workmen's compensation: compensation for loss or impairment of eyesight, 142 A.L.R. 822.

Workmen's compensation: right to compensation as affected by fact that injured employee earns or is offered, as much as, or more than, before the injury, 149 A.L.R. 413.

Workmen's compensation: right to compensation as for a total or partial disability in case of abnormal condition of body or member which results from or is incident to specific injury for which the act makes special allowance, 156 A.L.R. 1344.

What constitutes "salary," "wages," "pay," or the like, within pension law basing benefits thereon, 14 A.L.R.2d 634.

Workmen's compensation: crediting employer or insurance carrier with earnings of employee reemployed, or continued in employment, after injury, 84 A.L.R.2d 1108.

Workers' compensation: tips or gratuities as factor in determining amount of compensation, 16 A.L.R.5th 191.