Determining Dependency Benefits In Georgia Workers' Compensation Claims

• Published date: 10 March 2022
• Subject Matter: Employment and HR, Employee Benefits & Compensation
• Law Firm: Drew Eckl & Farnham, LLP
• Author: Robert A. Freyre

Where an employee sustains an injury arising from an accident arising out of and in the course of employment which results in instant death or thereafter results in death during the period of disability, the individuals who are the employee's "dependents" may be entitled to benefits. O.C.G.A. ' 34-9-265. A dependent is defined as "one who looks to another for support or one who is dependent on another for the ordinary necessities of life to which he has become accustomed". Glen Falls Indemnity Company v. Jordan, 56 Ga. App. 449 (1937). A dependent must have been dependent upon the employee for at least three months prior to the employee's death to qualify to recover some or all of the benefits owed to the employee.

If the deceased employee leaves dependents O.C.G.A. ' 34-9-265(b)(2) requires the employer to continue paying income benefits to the surviving dependents of the employee who are wholly dependent on his earnings for support at the time of the injury equal to the compensation provided in O.C.G.A. ' 34-9-261 for total incapacity. If the employee leaves dependents only partially dependent on his earnings for their support, the weekly compensation for these dependents shall be in the same proportion to the compensation for persons wholly...