by Alissa C. Atkins, Esq.

Chairman McKay also reviewed how Georgia law stacks up against workers’ compensation laws in several other states. Until recently, Texas was the only state that did not require workers’ compensation insurance to be purchased by private employers. There, employers can choose whether or not to purchase workers’ compensation coverage. Employers who choose not to buy coverage still have to report injuries to the Texas Department of Insurance – Division of Workers’ Compensation.

In several other states, campaigns to switch to a voluntary system have seen a modicum of success in the past few years. Efforts to require the option to opt-out were approved in Oklahoma. The grass roots campaigners who pushed for reform in Oklahoma then set their sights on the southeast. They made efforts to secure the opt-out in Tennessee, but the law there was already being modified. Since 2011 certain Tennessee business owners may apply for an partial exemption.

Although this same group looked at potential reform in Georgia as well, Chairman McKay explained that at this point there is no likely consideration for a total opt-out in Georgia for two reasons. First, the program here is one of the strongest in the nation at returning injured workers to work. Second, medical treatment is approved relatively quickly with multiple options to expedite needed care.

If Georgia employers could opt-out, they would lose the benefits of having claims addressed by the Board under the exclusive remedy provision, which would mean they could be sued for personal injury, opening them up to defend claims in superior courts throughout the state, and also for punitive damages such as pain and suffering.