2022 Georgia Code
Title 34 - Labor and Industrial Relations
Chapter 9 - Workers’ Compensation
Article 1 - General Provisions
§ 34-9-11. Exclusivity of Rights and Remedies Granted to Employee Under Chapter; Immunity Granted to Construction Design Professionals

1. The rights and the remedies granted to an employee by this chapter shall exclude and be in place of all other rights and remedies of such employee, his or her personal representative, parents, dependents, or next of kin, and all other civil liabilities whatsoever at common law or otherwise, on account of such injury, loss of service, or death; provided, however, that the employer may be liable to the employee for rights and remedies beyond those provided in this chapter by expressly agreeing in writing to specific additional rights and remedies; provided, further, however, that the use of contractual provisions generally relating to workplace safety, generally relating to compliance with laws or regulations, or generally relating to liability insurance requirements shall not be construed to create rights and remedies beyond those provided in this chapter. No employee shall be deprived of any right to bring an action against any third-party tort-feasor, other than an employee of the same employer or any person who, pursuant to a contract or agreement with an employer, provides workers’ compensation benefits to an injured employee, notwithstanding the fact that no common-law master-servant relationship or contract of employment exists between the injured employee and the person providing the benefits, and other than a construction design professional who is retained to perform professional services on or in conjunction with a construction project on which the employee was working when injured, or any employee of a construction design professional who is assisting in the performance of professional services on the construction site on which the employee was working when injured, unless the construction design professional specifically assumes by written contract the safety practices for the project. The immunity provided by this subsection to a construction design professional shall not apply to the negligent preparation of design plans and specifications, nor shall it apply to the tortious activities of the construction design professional or the employees of the construction design professional while on the construction site where the employee was injured and where those activities are the proximate cause of the injury to the employee or to any professional surveys specifically set forth in the contract or any intentional misconduct committed by the construction design professional or his or her employees.
2. As used in subsection (a) of this Code section, the term “construction design professional” means any person who is an architect, professional engineer, landscape architect, geologist, or land surveyor who has been issued a license pursuant to Chapter 4, 15, 19, or 23 of Title 43 or any corporation organized to render professional services in Georgia through the practice of one or more such technical professions as architecture, professional engineering, landscape architecture, geology, or land surveying.
3. The immunity provided by this subsection shall apply and extend to the businesses using the services of a temporary help contracting firm, as such term is defined in Code Section 34-8-46, or an employee leasing company, as such term is defined in Code Section 34-8-32, when the benefits required by this chapter are provided by either the temporary help contracting firm or the employee leasing company or the business using the services of either such firm or company. A temporary help contracting firm or an employee leasing company shall be deemed to be a statutory employer for the purposes of this chapter.

History. Ga. L. 1920, p. 167, § 12; Code 1933, § 114-103; Ga. L. 1972, p. 929, § 1; Ga. L. 1974, p. 1143, § 1; Ga. L. 1980, p. 1145, § 2; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 34; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1164, § 1; Ga. L. 1995, p. 352, § 1; Ga. L. 2015, p. 1079, § 1/HB 412.

The 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, in subsection (a), in the first sentence, and at the beginning of the second sentence, substituted “exclude and be in place of all other rights and remedies of such employee, his or her personal representative, parents, dependents, or next of kin, and all other civil liabilities whatsoever at common law or otherwise, on account of such injury, loss of service, or death; provided, however, that the employer may be liable to the employee for rights and remedies beyond those provided in this chapter by expressly agreeing in writing to specific additional rights and remedies; provided, further, however, that the use of contractual provisions generally relating to workplace safety, generally relating to compliance with laws or regulations, or generally relating to liability insurance requirements shall not be construed to create rights and remedies beyond those provided in this chapter. No employee shall” for “exclude all other rights and remedies of such employee, his personal representative, parents, dependents, or next of kin, at common law or otherwise, on account of such injury, loss of service, or death; provided, however, that no employee shall”, and added “or her” at the end of the last sentence.

Law reviews.

For article surveying judicial and legislative developments in Georgia’s tort laws, see 31 Mercer L. Rev. 229 (1979).

For article surveying Georgia cases in the area of insurance from June 1979 through May 1980, see 32 Mercer L. Rev. 79 (1980).

For article surveying Georgia cases in the area of workers’ compensation from June 1979 through May 1980, see 32 Mercer L. Rev. 261 (1980).

For article surveying developments in Georgia workers’ compensation law from mid-1980 through mid-1981, see 33 Mercer L. Rev. 323 (1981).

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, “Defending the Lawsuit: A First-Round Checklist,” see 22 Ga. St. B.J. 24 (1985).

For article, “On Reintegrating Workers’ Compensation and Employers’ Liability,” see 21 Ga. L. Rev. 843 (1987).

For article, “Worker’s Compensation and the Statutory Employer,” see 27 Ga. St. B. J. 24 (1990).

For annual survey article discussing developments in construction law, see 51 Mercer L. Rev. 181 (1999).

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 survey article on workers’ compensation law for the period from June 1, 2002 to May 31, 2003, see 55 Mercer L. Rev. 459 (2003).

For annual survey of law of worker’s compensation, see 56 Mercer L. Rev. 479 (2004).

For annual survey of workers’ compensation law, see 58 Mercer L. Rev. 453 (2006).

For survey article on local government law, see 59 Mercer L. Rev. 285 (2007).

For survey article on workers’ compensation law, see 60 Mercer L. Rev. 433 (2008).

For annual survey of law on workers’ compensation, see 62 Mercer L. Rev. 383 (2010).

For annual survey on workers’ compensation, see 65 Mercer L. Rev. 311 (2013).

For annual survey of workers’ compensation, see 67 Mercer L. Rev. 287 (2015).

For annual survey of workers’ compensation, see 68 Mercer L. Rev. 333 (2016).

For annual survey on decisions impacting workers’ compensation, see 69 Mercer L. Rev. 357 (2017).

For note advocating recognition of third-party tort-feasor’s right of contribution against negligent employer covered under workers’ compensation, see 29 Mercer L. Rev. 635 (1978).

For note “Pardue v. Ruiz: An Extension of Tort Immunity,” see 45 Mercer L. Rev. 1449 (1994).