Georgia Workers Compensation: Employer Requirements
Georgia requires workers compensation at three employees, counting part-time and seasonal staff. Coverage, exclusions, posting, deadlines and penalties.
Georgia Workers Compensation
Three employees turns the mandate on, owners who reject coverage still count toward the three, and the panel of physicians has to be on the wall before anyone gets hurt
A contractor outside Macon once told me he had two employees and a brother-in-law who ran the second truck on Saturdays. He counted two. Georgia counted three, and the letter that arrived from the State Board of Workers' Compensation did not care how he had it filed.
That is the whole trap in this state. The threshold is low, and the definition of who counts is wider than most owners assume. In a busy week, most small businesses have more people working for them than it takes to make a policy legally required.
Below, in the order you will need it: who counts toward the three, who is excluded, where to buy the policy and what drives the rate, what to post, the deadlines after an injury, the penalties and what the policy pays.
Who Has to Carry Coverage
Coverage becomes mandatory at three employees. The State Board of Workers' Compensation states it without qualifiers: every employer, individual, firm, association or corporation regularly employing three or more persons, part time or full time, must provide workers compensation insurance coverage.
There is no revenue test under that rule and no industry test. A three-person cleaning company is covered on the same terms as a three-person machine shop. The Board's employer information page adds the sentence that catches people: exempted officers of corporations and exempted members of limited liability companies do not reduce the number of employees for this purpose.
Protection starts immediately for anyone who is covered. Board materials for injured workers say coverage applies to a work-related injury even if it happens on the first day on the job, so there is no probationary window in which a new hire is uninsured.
Counting to Three
Regular part-time and seasonal workers count, and so do corporate officers and LLC members. The Board's workers compensation insurance FAQs define a regular part-time employee as someone who works regularly on a part-time basis, such as an employee who only works weekends. They treat a seasonal hire as regular when you regularly hire more workers during a certain season.
In a corporation or an LLC, the entity is the employer and the officers or members are employees of the business. They stay in the count whether or not they have rejected coverage for themselves.
Sole proprietors and partners run the other way. Georgia treats them as employers rather than employees, which is why a two-partner firm with one hired hand is usually below the threshold while a three-officer corporation with no other staff is not.
Even so, a corporation or LLC made up only of three to five officers or members has one compliance route that needs no policy. O.C.G.A. section 34-9-2.1 provides that when the exemptions leave no covered employees, no coverage is required unless and until additional employees are hired.
The Board's instructions on Form WC-10, the form used to reject or elect coverage, handle the paperwork: when each of them files an exemption and no employees remain, the forms go to the Board rather than to a carrier.
The exemption form also warns that an employer already subject to the Act (Georgia's workers compensation law) before the exemptions were filed stays subject, however many exemptions are filed. The no-policy route therefore lasts only until the business employs someone besides the exempt officers or members.
Who Is Excluded and Who Opts In
Georgia excludes a short list of workers outright and lets owners elect their own status. The Board lists railroad carriers, United States government agencies, farm laborers and domestic servants as exceptions to the coverage requirement, and its supervisor training materials add real estate salespersons to the employees who fall outside the Act.
Statute references in the table point to the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A.), the state's collected laws.
| Worker or role | Georgia treatment | What the employer does |
|---|---|---|
| Sole proprietor | Not an employee of the business | Outside coverage unless the owner elects to be included on Form WC-10 (O.C.G.A. section 34-9-2.2) |
| Partner | Not an employee of the business | Same election on Form WC-10. Partners do not count toward the three |
| Corporate officer or LLC member | An employee of the business, and counted | Up to five may reject coverage on Form WC-10 filed with the carrier (O.C.G.A. section 34-9-2.1). The rejection does not lower the headcount |
| Domestic servants | Excepted from the coverage requirement | No policy is required for household staff under the Act |
| Farm laborers | Excepted from the coverage requirement | A farm labor employer may elect to provide coverage on Form WC-10 (O.C.G.A. section 34-9-2.3) |
| Casual or non-business labor | Outside the definition of employee | Work not in the usual course of the trade, business, occupation or profession of the employer is excluded (O.C.G.A. section 34-9-1(2)) |
| Railroad carriers | Excepted from the Act | Common carriers by railroad sit outside the Georgia Act. Their employees are covered by federal law instead |
| United States government agencies | Excepted from the Act | Federal civilian employees fall under the federal compensation program administered by the US Department of Labor |
| Real estate salespersons | Listed by the Board among employees outside the Act | Confirm the arrangement with your carrier before leaving a salesperson off the policy |
| Independent contractors | Not employees when genuinely independent | The label on the agreement does not settle it. A contractor who sublets work may be liable for coverage for an uninsured subcontractor’s employees |
The independent contractor line is where small employers get hurt, because the exposure runs both ways. Misclassify an employee and you have a worker on the job site with no policy behind them. Sublet work to a genuinely independent subcontractor who has no policy, and you may be liable for coverage for that subcontractor's employees.
Where to Buy the Policy
A Georgia employer buys from a private insurance carrier, and there is no state fund to buy from instead. The Board answers the state fund question with a single word, no, and states separately that the Board itself does not sell workers compensation insurance. Contact an agency representing a company licensed to write the coverage in Georgia.
Three routes exist, and they are not equally available. Most employers use the voluntary market. Employers who cannot get a policy there use the Georgia Workers' Compensation Assigned Risk Plan, administered by the National Council on Compensation Insurance.
The third route, self-insurance, is described by the Board as usually for large employers, and the requirements in the table show why. Self-insurance also comes in a group form, through an approved fund open to members of a qualifying association.
| Route | Who it fits | What it takes |
|---|---|---|
| Private carrier, voluntary market | Nearly every small employer | A policy from a carrier licensed in Georgia, placed through an agent or broker. Premium and rate questions go to the Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner |
| Assigned risk plan | Employers declined in the voluntary market | Application through the plan administered by the National Council on Compensation Insurance |
| Self-insurance | Large employers with audited financials | Application to the Board, three years of audited financial statements, a $500 nonrefundable fee payable to the Georgia Self-Insurers Guaranty Trust Fund, approval by the Board and the Fund |
| Self-insurance, after approval | Same | Security by surety bond or letter of credit of no less than $250,000, set after review of the financials, plus an excess insurance policy from a highly rated carrier |
| Group self-insurance fund | Members of a qualifying association | Coverage through an approved group fund. The Board shows group fund members in its online coverage lookup |
One Georgia-specific way to cut the premium is worth knowing. The Board certifies employers as a drug-free workplace, and certified employers receive a 7.5 percent reduction in workers compensation premiums under O.C.G.A. sections 33-9-40.2 and 34-9-412. The certification fee is $35 under O.C.G.A. section 34-9-421, and the certificate has to go to your carrier every year for the discount to apply.
How Georgia Workers Comp Rates Are Set
There is no single state rate to look up. Each insurer files its own rates with the Georgia Insurance Commissioner and quotes a rate per $100 of payroll for every class code your work falls under. A class code is the category assigned to a type of work, such as roofing or clerical. That rate is applied to your payroll, then adjusted for your claim history.
The classification is fixed even though the price is not. Georgia's rate filing rule, Chapter 120-2-37 of the Commissioner's regulations, requires every workers compensation insurer to follow the licensed rating organization's classification plan. The same rule permits an insurer to adopt, by reference, that organization's experience rating plan, which turns claim history into a price modifier.
The rule also directs each insurer to build its rates from its own Georgia experience where that experience is actuarially credible, meaning large enough to be statistically reliable. Two carriers can therefore price the same class code differently, which is the argument for getting more than one quote.
Georgia sits in the middle nationally. In the state-by-state premium comparison published by the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services, Georgia's 2024 index rate was $1.09 per $100 of payroll, right at the median of the states studied. Your own number will turn far more on class code and claim history than on the state line.
| What moves the number | How it works in Georgia |
|---|---|
| Payroll by class code | The base of every calculation. Rates are quoted per $100 of payroll, and a roofing code and a clerical code are not close to each other |
| Classification plan | Set by the licensed rating organization and mandatory for every insurer under Chapter 120-2-37, so the code is not negotiable even when the rate is |
| Experience rating | Claim history turns into a modifier. Insurers may adopt the rating organization’s experience rating plan by reference under the same rule |
| Drug-free workplace certification | The 7.5 percent statutory reduction described above, applied once the Board certifies you and the certificate reaches your carrier |
| Uninsured subcontractors | Charged back to you at audit, priced on the services that subcontractor performed |
| Assigned risk placement | Employers declined in the voluntary market pay the plan’s rates rather than a negotiated market rate |
Of all the rows, the subcontractor charge is the one that surprises people. The Office of the Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire warns that at audit your carrier looks for evidence that each subcontractor carried coverage, and charges you for the ones that did not.
The audit charge sits on top of the statutory liability a contractor already carries under O.C.G.A. section 34-9-8(a). Collect certificates of insurance while the crew is still on site, not when the audit letter arrives.
What You Post and What You Explain
Georgia handles employee notice through posting rather than a new-hire handout. There is no state workers compensation pamphlet you are required to hand a new employee on day one, and no signature form the state collects. What the Board requires is three postings in a conspicuous place on the work premises.
First, a notice showing that you comply with the law: the insurance company's name, or for an approved self-insurer, the certificate of self-insurance, posted in a prominent place. Second, the Bill of Rights for the Injured Worker, the summary of rights and responsibilities required by O.C.G.A. section 34-9-81.1. Third, the panel of physicians (the list of doctors an injured employee chooses from), completely filled out, at every location.
| Posting | Form | What it has to contain |
|---|---|---|
| Notice of compliance | Board Rule 61 wording, printed at the top of WC-P1 and WC-P3 | The Rule 61 statement that the business operates under the Georgia Workers’ Compensation Law, plus the insurance company’s name (the panel forms have a box for it), or the certificate of self-insurance for an approved self-insurer |
| Bill of Rights for the Injured Worker | WC-BOR | The Board’s summary of employee rights and responsibilities, required by O.C.G.A. section 34-9-81.1 |
| Traditional panel of physicians | WC-P1 | At least six non-associated physicians, including one orthopedic physician, with no more than two from industrial clinics and a minority physician where feasible |
| Managed care panel | WC-P3 | The name of a Board-certified workers compensation managed care organization and its procedures. The organization also gives each covered employee an information card and a 24-hour toll-free number |
| Where all of these notices come from | The Board, free of charge | WC-BOR, WC-P1 and WC-P3 are on the Board’s forms page, and Board Rule 61 says the Board furnishes suitable notices free on request. Post them in each business location, not only the main office |
Posting is not the end of the duty. Board materials tell employers to explain the purpose of the panel to all employees and to help employees get medical care when an injury happens.
Supervisor guidance goes a step further: the injured worker must be given the chance to choose from the posted panel and have the Bill of Rights explained. Failing that can free the employee to choose any physician and can bring penalties and attorney's fees.
Injury Reporting Deadlines
Two clocks run at once. The Board's workers compensation law FAQs tell employees to report an accident immediately and warn that waiting longer than 30 days may cost them benefits. Your own clock is shorter: Section A of Form WC-1 (the first report of an injury) goes to your insurer or self-insurer claims office immediately upon knowledge of an injury, not to the Board.
| Step | Who acts | Deadline | Form |
|---|---|---|---|
| Report the accident | Employee | Immediately, and no later than 30 days after the accident | No form. Notice to the employer, a representative, a foreman or a supervisor |
| Call the claims department on a serious injury | Employer | Immediately, by telephone, before paperwork | No form |
| Complete Section A and send it to the insurer | Employer | Immediately upon knowledge of the injury | WC-1. Failure to submit it immediately may result in a penalty |
| File with the Board and copy the employee | Insurer or self-insurer | Within 21 days of the employer’s knowledge of disability, injury or death | WC-1, sections B, C or D |
| Report lost-time injuries to the Board | Employer through its insurer | Injuries involving seven or more days of lost time, within 21 days of the employer’s knowledge of disability | WC-1 |
| Deny a claim | Employer or insurer | Within 21 days of the employer’s knowledge of the injury, to avoid penalties | WC-1 section C, or WC-3 |
| First income benefit check | Insurer | Within 21 days after the first day the employee missed work | No form |
| File a claim if benefits are denied | Employee | Within one year of the accident | WC-14 |
| Report a fatality or in-patient hospitalization | Employer | 8 hours for a fatality, 24 hours for a hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye | Federal OSHA rules, separate from workers compensation |
The OSHA row is the one employers most often merge with the rest. OSHA, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, is a different agency with a different form and a different clock, and filing a WC-1 does nothing to satisfy it.
Penalties for Going Without
The Board may assess a civil penalty of $500 to $5,000 per occurrence for violating an employer's duty to provide coverage. Refusing or willfully neglecting to secure coverage is also a misdemeanor, punishable on conviction by a fine of $1,000 to $10,000, imprisonment of up to 12 months, or both.
The uninsured employer is not released from the claim either. Board guidance states that an employer failing to provide coverage is responsible for compensable injuries in the same manner as an employer that carried it, and that the Board may add attorney's fees, civil penalties and a 10 percent increase in the compensation owed to the injured worker.
| Violation | Exposure |
|---|---|
| Failing to provide required coverage | Civil penalty of $500 to $5,000 per occurrence, assessed by the Board |
| Refusing or willfully neglecting to secure coverage | Misdemeanor. Fine of $1,000 to $10,000, imprisonment up to 12 months, or both |
| An injury while uninsured | Full responsibility for the compensable injury, plus possible attorney’s fees, civil penalties and a 10 percent increase in compensation |
| Willfully failing to file a required form, follow a Board order, or violating a Board rule | Civil penalty of $100 to $1,000 per violation |
| Knowingly false or misleading statements to obtain or deny benefits | Civil penalty of $1,000 to $10,000 per violation, under O.C.G.A. sections 34-9-18 and 34-9-19 |
| Late reports or late payments | Late payment penalties, possible late filing penalties and assessment of attorney’s fees |
Enforcement is not passive. The Board runs an Enforcement Division that investigates non-compliance and fraud, and it publishes an online coverage verification tool that lets anyone check whether a Georgia business carries a policy. General contractors check it before letting a sub on site, and employees can check it too.
What to Do When Someone Gets Hurt
The order matters, and the first step is medical rather than administrative. The Board's own instructions to employers on Form WC-1 start with providing prompt medical attention and letting the employee select from the posted panel.
The practical failure mode I see is not bad faith. It is memory. Nobody writes down who was told, on what date, or which physician was offered. FirstHR keeps the incident record, the acknowledgment and the employee file in one place, so the dates that decide a Georgia claim are not sitting in a supervisor's text messages.
What the Policy Pays
Georgia caps weekly income benefits by statute, and the caps move only when the legislature changes them. For accidents on or after July 1, 2023, total disability pays two-thirds of the average weekly wage up to $800 per week, according to the Board's summary of workers compensation provisions, revised July 1, 2025.
| Benefit | Amount | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Temporary total disability | Two-thirds of the average weekly wage, maximum $800 per week, minimum $50 | Up to 400 weeks from the date of injury. Unlimited for catastrophic injuries |
| Waiting period | No income benefit for the first seven days | The first week becomes payable if the absence runs more than 21 consecutive days |
| Temporary partial disability | Two-thirds of the wage difference, maximum $533 per week | Up to 350 weeks from the date of injury |
| Permanent partial disability | Maximum $800 per week, based on the rating schedule | Set by the schedule for the body part, for example 225 weeks for an arm or a leg |
| Death benefits | Two-thirds of the average weekly wage, maximum $800 per week, burial expenses up to $7,500 | A surviving spouse with no children is capped at $320,000 |
| Medical benefits | Authorized treatment, prescriptions and necessary travel, mileage at $0.45 per mile | Up to 400 weeks for accidents on or after July 1, 2013. Lifetime for catastrophic injuries |
Those figures are what your premium buys. The premium itself is calculated on payroll and class codes rather than headcount, which is why the year-end audit can move the number after the fact.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many employees before Georgia requires workers compensation?
Three. The rule reaches every employer regularly employing three or more persons, part time or full time, and there is no revenue or industry test beneath it. Exempted corporate officers and LLC members do not reduce that count, so a three-person company where two owners rejected coverage still has to insure.
Do part-time and seasonal workers count toward the three?
Yes, when they are regular. The Board defines a regular part-time employee as one who works regularly on a part-time basis, including someone who works only weekends, and treats a seasonal hire as regular when the business regularly adds workers in a given season. Two full-timers plus a weekend hire is three.
Can a Georgia business owner opt out of coverage?
Corporate officers and LLC members can, up to five of them, using Form WC-10 filed with the insurance carrier. Sole proprietors and partners are outside coverage by default and elect in on the same form. Unless all three to five officers or members of a corporation or LLC are exempt with no employees left, neither election changes whether the business must carry a policy, and the WC-10 is not a waiver of coverage.
Where do Georgia employers buy workers compensation insurance?
Georgia has no state fund, so the answer is a private carrier, reached through an agent or broker. The Board answers the state fund question with one word in its insurance FAQs and states that it does not sell insurance itself. The other routes are the assigned risk plan administered by the National Council on Compensation Insurance and self-insurance approved by the Board.
What are the penalties for not carrying coverage?
Civil penalties of $500 to $5,000 per occurrence, plus misdemeanor exposure with a fine of $1,000 to $10,000, up to 12 months of imprisonment, or both, for refusing or willfully neglecting to secure coverage. An uninsured employer also remains responsible for the injury itself, and the Board can add attorney's fees and a 10 percent increase in compensation.
How fast does a work injury have to be reported?
The employee should report immediately and within 30 days. The employer completes Section A of Form WC-1 immediately upon knowledge of the injury and sends it to the insurer, not the Board, calling the claims department first on serious injuries. The insurer files with the Board within 21 days of the employer's knowledge of disability.
How much does workers compensation insurance cost in Georgia?
It depends on payroll, class codes and claim history rather than on a state price list. Carriers file their own rates with the Insurance Commissioner and quote per $100 of payroll, which is why two quotes for identical work can differ. For scale, the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services comparison put Georgia at $1.09 per $100 of payroll for 2024, the midpoint of the states it measured.
What has to be posted at a Georgia workplace?
A notice of compliance showing the insurer's name or the certificate of self-insurance, the Bill of Rights for the Injured Worker, and the panel of physicians on Form WC-P1 or WC-P3, all in a conspicuous place at every location. The Board provides the posters, and the panel has to be explained to employees, not just displayed.
Injury paperwork is one piece of a bigger state picture. Once your policy and postings are in place, the next items to check are separation notices, E-Verify and new hire reporting.