By: Alissa C. Atkins, Esq.

Nineteen days into the 2018 legislative session, only a few bills have been submitted that pertain to workers’ compensation law. At this point, no bill has been submitted to increase the Temporary Total or Temporary Partial Disability maximums, and although it is still technically possible, we do not expect any sweeping changes to be proposed to the Georgia Workers’ Compensation Act this year. There are two pending bills that propose changes to the Act, however:

(1) HB 789 seeks to amend the Code to clarify that marketplace contractors are to be treated as independent contractors for the purposes of state and federal law. If this bill becomes law, marketplace contractors would not be eligible to receive workers’ compensation benefits in Georgia. The bill defines a “marketplace contractor” as a person that “enters into an agreement with a marketplace platform to use such platform’s digital network to receive connections to customers seeking services.” Although not specified in the bill itself, according to one legislator, this is intended to cover companies such as Home Advisor or Kudzu, through whom you might contract to send a handyman to your home, but also addresses drivers for ride share apps such as Lyft and Uber, who would not be covered by workers’ compensation insurance if the bill passes. The bill has been favorably reported by House Committee as of February 8th and seems headed toward approval.

(2) The only other bill directly relevant to workers’ compensation is HB 800, which addresses eligibility for appointment as director emeritus of the State Board of Workers’ Compensation, or appointment as an administrative law judge emeritus. Essentially, certain State Board employees who are over age 60 (director emeritus) or age 70 (ALJ) and have worked at the Board for 20 consecutive years as chairman, director, deputy director or ALJ are eligible to make a reduced salary upon appointment as director emeritus. This bill was also favorably reported by House Committee on February 8, 2018.

As always, we will keep you updated about any changes to the Act that may eventually pass the House and Senate this year.