Georgia Dealers Blog

Georgia Workers Compensation for Dealers

Georgia Workers Compensation

Georgia Workers Compensation is administered under a contract with the Georgia Department of Administrative Services, a third-party administrator. All Georgia employers including licensed motor vehicle dealers with more than three employees require workers' compensation insurance, with some exceptions. If a dealership has three or more full-time or part-time employees in Georgia, Georgia workers compensation insurance must be purchased to protect dealership. Georgia Workers Compensation Law requires dealers with three or more full-time, part-time, or seasonal employees to carry workers' compensation.

If your employees are injured at your dealership, you must provide a list of medical professionals who can treat their injuries. However, if a dealer does not have this group of medical specialists, or if it does not meet the standards set by the State the dealer may be in violation of GA workers compensation law. As a dealer in Georgia should consult your attorney for specific legal advice on specific facts and circumstances and applicable laws, rules and regulations.

As with any insurance plan or government program, there are rules and procedures that must be followed that could potentially affect your dealership employees claim and the overall compensation they may receive.

Death Compensation

If a dealer does not have insurance, your employees out-of-pocket injury costs can be significantly higher than those for compensators in Georgia. If your employee is injured while working in Georgia, they may be eligible for Workers' Compensation to cover your medical bills and lost wages as a result of there injury.

However, there is a 400-week limit to most medical benefits, unless the injury occurred prior to July 2013 or is considered catastrophic under Georgia law. If compensation payments have not been paid, the injured worker has one year from the last treatment date to be paid by the employer/insurer. If benefits are not paid and health care is not provided by your employer or workers' compensation insurance company, your employees have one year from the date of injury to file a State Workers' Council compensation notice through module WC-14.

Georgia State Workers Compensation Board

The State Workers' Compensation Board also allows light work approval by the worker's physician, which may affect the worker's benefits. The injured person is entitled to both treatment paid by the insurance company as part of the work allowance, and to benefits, wage replacement, if he was suspended from work by an authorized attending physician or subjected to minor restrictions. the authorized attending physician and his employer cannot accept them, even if they caused an accident. Workers' compensation is a type of insurance that provides financial benefits to pay for medical bills, lost wages, and rehabilitation costs to workers who are injured or ill in the course of and as part of their job. Burial expenses and compensation in connection with death in the event of the tragic death of an employee as a result of an accident at work.

Death benefits provide dependents of dealership employees with two-thirds of workers' average weekly wages. Georgia Worker Death Compensation If an employee dies as a result of an accident at work, workers' compensation is paid to the dependents in the amount of two-thirds of the average weekly wage of the deceased worker, up to $675 per week and cannot exceed $270,000.

It can also provide disability benefits and help make up for lost wages if the worker needs time off to recover. Disability benefit if, as a result of an accident at work, the employee temporarily lost his ability to work. Sick leave is a benefit provided to help sick or injured employees.

If your employees sick leave has expired, they can use your vacation or take unpaid leave.

Since Georgia is a voluntary work state, a dealer may fire an employee for no reason or no reason unless the official contract states otherwise. Failure to compensate workers when required by Georgian law can result in lawsuits, civil penalties of up to $1,000 per violation, or even criminal sanctions in the form of fines of up to $10,000 and jail time. If licensed Georgia motor vehicle dealer is not required to provide workers' compensation under the Georgia Workers' Compensation Law, employees can still sue after an injury at work and ask you to pay medical bills and lost wages.

Compensation workers have the advantage that they can get benefits relatively quickly without having to file a lawsuit or prove that the dealer is at fault for causing the employee's injury.

Every dealer in the State of Georgia must be aware of Georgia Workers Compensation Laws!