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Workers’ compensation benefits in Georgia are paid by your employer’s workers’ comp insurance carrier — the company that collects premiums from your employer in exchange for covering job injury claims. If your employer is large and financially stable enough to be approved as a self-insured employer, that company pays benefits directly instead of going through an outside insurer.
Either way, the money doesn’t come out of your paycheck or out of a fund you contributed to. Workers’ compensation is a no-fault system funded by employers specifically so injured workers have a source of benefits regardless of who caused the accident, under the exclusive remedy doctrine (O.C.G.A. § 34-9-11) that generally prevents you from also suing your employer directly.
If your employer doesn’t carry workers’ comp insurance at all, the process gets more complicated, and a Georgia workers’ compensation lawyer can walk you through the alternative paths available to recover benefits.
Most Georgia employers carry a workers’ compensation insurance policy, and it’s that insurance company — not the employer directly — that reviews your claim, authorizes treatment, and issues your benefit payments.
The insurer assigns an adjuster to your claim, similar to how a car insurance claim works, and that adjuster manages communication and payment decisions on the insurer’s behalf.
Some larger Georgia employers are approved to self-insure, meaning they pay workers’ comp benefits directly out of their own funds instead of through an outside insurance company.
From an injured worker’s perspective, the claims process looks largely the same, though you may be dealing with an in-house claims administrator instead of a traditional insurance adjuster.
Georgia law generally requires employers with three or more employees to carry workers’ compensation coverage, but some employers fail to do so, whether through neglect or financial hardship.
See what happens if your employer has no workers’ compensation insurance for the specific options available when coverage doesn’t exist.
Unlike some other benefit programs, workers’ compensation in Georgia is funded entirely by employer-paid premiums, not by deductions from your wages.
This is part of why the exclusive remedy doctrine exists — employers fund the no-fault system, and in exchange, employees generally give up the right to sue them directly over workplace injuries.
No. Workers’ compensation is funded by employer-paid insurance premiums, not by deductions from your wages.
If your employer carries workers’ comp insurance, the insurer — not the employer directly — is responsible for paying valid benefits, regardless of the employer’s finances.
Generally, no. The exclusive remedy doctrine limits your recovery to workers’ compensation benefits rather than a direct lawsuit against your employer, with limited exceptions.
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