2021 Georgia Code
Title 34 - Labor and Industrial Relations
Chapter 9 - Workers' Compensation
Article 1 - General Provisions
§ 34-9-8. Liability of Principal Contractor or Subcontractor for Employee Injuries

1. A principal, intermediate, or subcontractor shall be liable for compensation to any employee injured while in the employ of any of his subcontractors engaged upon the subject matter of the contract to the same extent as the immediate employer.
2. Any principal, intermediate, or subcontractor who shall pay compensation under subsection (a) of this Code section may recover the amount paid from any person who, independently of this Code section, would have been liable to pay compensation to the injured employee or from any intermediate contractor.
3. Every claim for compensation under this Code section shall be in the first instance presented to and instituted against the immediate employer, but such proceedings shall not constitute a waiver of the employee's right to recover compensation under this chapter from the principal or intermediate contractor. If such immediate employer is not subject to this chapter by reason of having less than the required number of employees as prescribed in subsection (a) of Code Section 34-9-2 and Code Section 34-9-124 does not apply, then such claim may be directly presented to and instituted against the intermediate or principal contractor. However, the collection of full compensation from one employer shall bar recovery by the employee against any others, and the employee shall not collect a total compensation in excess of the amount for which any of the contractors is liable.
4. This Code section shall apply only in cases where the injury occurred on, in, or about the premises on which the principal contractor has undertaken to execute work or which are otherwise under his control or management.

(Ga. L. 1920, p. 167, § 20; Code 1933, § 114-112; Ga. L. 1969, p. 671, § 1.)

- Liability of employer for negligence of contractor generally, § 51-2-5.

- For article surveying developments in Georgia workers' compensation law from mid-1980 through mid-1981, see 33 Mercer L. Rev. 323 (1981). For annual survey of insurance law, see 35 Mercer L. Rev. 177 (1983). For article, "New Restrictions on the Statutory Employer Rule: Workers' Compensation Benefits and Immunity Curtailed," see 21 Ga. St. B. J. 94 (1985). For article, "Worker's Compensation and the Statutory Employer," see 27 Ga. St. B. J. 24 (1990). For article, "As to Leased Employment and Workers' Compensation Liability," see 28 Ga. L. Rev. 683 (1994). For article, "Workers' Compensation," see 53 Mercer L. Rev. 521 (2001). For survey article on construction law for the period from June 1, 2002 through May 31, 2003, see 55 Mercer L. Rev. 85 (2003). For annual survey of workers' compensation law, see 57 Mercer L. Rev. 419 (2005). For survey article on workers' compensation law, see 60 Mercer L. Rev. 433 (2008). For annual survey on workers' compensation, see 61 Mercer L. Rev. 399 (2009). For annual survey on local government law, see 69 Mercer L. Rev. 205 (2017). For annual survey on workers' compensation, see 65 Mercer L. Rev. 311 (2013). For note, "Workmen's Compensation: Who Is the Employer?," see 2 Mercer L. Rev. 390 (1951). For comment on Churchwell Bros. Constr. Co. v. Archie R. Briggs Constr. Co., 89 Ga. App. 550, 80 S.E.2d 212 (1954), see 16 Ga. B. J. 465 (1954).

ANALYSIS

• General Consideration
• Liability
• Illustrative Examples
• Practice and Procedure

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Ultimate responsibility for payment of medical services for work release inmate.

- A private employer is primarily responsible for the payment of medical bills arising from injuries, fatal or otherwise, received by a work release inmate while on the job, but, upon a default by the employer, the Department of Offender Rehabilitation is ultimately responsible for paying for those medical services. 1981 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 81-27.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 82 Am. Jur. 2d, Workers' Compensation, § 194 et seq.

- 100 C.J.S., Workers' Compensation, § 870 et seq.

- Circumstances under which the existence of the relationship of employer and independent contractor is predictable, 19 A.L.R. 1168.

Elements bearing directly upon the quality of a contract as affecting the character of one as independent contractor, 20 A.L.R. 684.

Independent contractor: remedial rights in respect of injuries caused by breaches of positive duties correlative to corporate franchises, 28 A.L.R. 122.

Workmen's compensation: injury to employee temporarily leaving car or vehicle of employer for reasons personal to himself, 32 A.L.R. 806.

Truckman as independent contractor under Workmen's Compensation Act, 43 A.L.R. 1312; 120 A.L.R. 1031.

Construction and effect of specific provisions of Workmen's Compensation Acts in relation to employees of independent contractors or subcontractors, 58 A.L.R. 872; 150 A.L.R. 1214; 151 A.L.R. 1359; 166 A.L.R. 813.

Nurse as independent contractor or servant, 60 A.L.R. 303.

Independent contractors and Workmen's Compensation Acts, 78 A.L.R. 493.

Use by employee of his own motor vehicle as affecting question whether injury or death was within Workmen's Compensation Acts, 95 A.L.R. 467.

Construction and effect of specific provisions of Workmen's Compensation Acts in relation to employees of independent contractors or subcontractors, 105 A.L.R. 580.

Teamster or truckman as independent contractor or employee under Workmen's Compensation Acts, 120 A.L.R. 1031.

Workmen's Compensation Act as exclusive of remedy by action against employer for injury or disease not compensable under act, 121 A.L.R. 1143.

Tests of independent contractor relationship in the field of Workmen's Compensation and Social Security Acts, 134 A.L.R. 1029; 147 A.L.R. 828.

Insurance soliciting agent as employee or independent contractor within Workmen's Compensation Acts, 138 A.L.R. 1122.

Injury to employee in course of employment but away from employer's place of business, due to a cause or risk to which others are also subject, as arising out of the employment, within Workmen's Compensation Act, 139 A.L.R. 1472.

Workmen's Compensation Act as applicable to employee of concessionaire in department store, 142 A.L.R. 1400.

Liability of insurance carrier under Workmen's Compensation Act in respect of personal injury to or death of employee where because of relationship between employee and employer recovery would inure in whole or in part to employer, 147 A.L.R. 115.

Test of independent contractor relationship in the field of workmen's compensation and social security, including unemployment compensation acts, 147 A.L.R. 828.

Transfer of business as affecting common-law remedy or workmen's compensation in respect of injuries subsequently sustained by employee, 150 A.L.R. 1166.

What work of independent contractor or subcontractor is so related to the trade, business, or occupation of principal employer as to satisfy the condition in that regard of provisions of Workmen's Compensation or Unemployment Compensation Acts, which make the employer responsible to, or in respect of, employees of the contractor, 150 A.L.R. 1214.

Workmen's compensation insurance premiums as within coverage of contractor's bond, 164 A.L.R. 1468.

Common-law remedy against general employer by employee of independent contractor or against [principal] contractor by employee of subcontractor, as affected by specific provisions of Workmen's Compensation Act relating to employees of such persons, 166 A.L.R. 813.

Workmen's compensation: remedy as between subcontractor and principal contractor (or independent contractor and contractee) in respect of compensated injury to employee of one due to negligence of other, where injured employee had no remedy apart from the act, 166 A.L.R. 1221.

Workmen's compensation: coverage of industrial or business employee when performing, under orders, services for private benefit of employer or superior, or officer, representative, or stockholder of corporate employer, 172 A.L.R. 378.

Workmen's compensation: injury while crossing or walking along railroad or street railway tracks, going to or from work, as arising out of and in the course of employment, 50 A.L.R.2d 363.

Modern status: "Dual capacity doctrine" as basis for employee's recovery from employer in tort, 23 A.L.R.4th 1151.