Georgia Workers' Compensation Insurance

Corporate officers and LLC members are counted as employees by default, but up to five officers or members may waive coverage on themselves by filing Form WC-10 with their carrier; that waiver does not reduce the headcount used for the three-employee threshold. Sole proprietors and partners are treated as employers rather than employees under Georgia law, so they aren't automatically covered, but they can elect to be covered by advising their insurance carrier in writing.

Intentionally failing to purchase required coverage can bring civil penalties of $500 to $5,000 per violation, and an employer who deliberately fails to provide mandated coverage can also face misdemeanor criminal charges, with fines of $1,000 to $10,000, up to one year in prison, or both. Separate penalties of $100 to $1,000 per violation apply to deliberately skipping required filings, and $1,000 to $10,000 per violation (plus a possible 10% increase in the worker's compensation) applies to deliberately denying benefits or making false statements. The State Board of Workers' Compensation assesses each violation individually within these ranges.

Georgia is a competitive market state rated by NCCI, so our agency can compare coverage across the many private carriers writing business here. There is no Georgia state-run workers' comp fund; employers who can't find a voluntary carrier are placed through the NCCI-administered assigned risk plan. Because Georgia's three-employee threshold includes regular part-time and recurring seasonal staff, a growing small business should check its status with an agent as its crew size increases through a busy season.