LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS Workers\u27 Compensation: Provide Penalties for Fraudulently Received Benefits; Provide for the Admission of Lab Results in Administrative Law Hearings; Provide Method of Determining Temporary Partial Benefits; Eliminate Time Restrictions on Changing Doctors Without Board Approval; Deny Compensation for Subsequent Nonwork Related Injury; Provide Assembly Intent to Codify Existing Law; Change Provisions Relating to Income Benefit Payments; Provide Reimbursement to Insurer or Self-Insurer Under Certain Conditions; Provide Benefits for Permanent Partial Disability from Hernia Surgery; Change Provisions Relating to the Self-Insurers Guaranty Trust Fund

The Act makes a variety of changes to Georgia\u27s workers\u27 compensation law. First, the Act increases the penalties to be paid by employees who fraudulently retain income benefits to which they are not entitled. The Act also amends the workers\u27 compensation law as it applies to administrative hearings by: (1) allowing the admission of laboratory reports when accompanied by an affidavit from the laboratory, which eases the authenticity requirements, and (2) making the time requirements set forth in title 24 of the Code inapplicable to workers\u27 compensation proceedings. Further, the Act provides for a specified means of determining temporary partial benefits. Additionally, the Act eliminates time restrictions on when an employee may change physicians without authorization from the Workers\u27 Compensation Board. Next, the Act adds her to its language in order to make the statute gender-neutral. The Act disallows compensation payments for death or disabilities caused by a subsequent nonwork related injury. The Act also clarifies the legislative intent under Code section 34-9-204 to codify existing case law, strikes Code section 34-9-127, and corrects a typographical error in Code section 34-9-243. Additionally, the Act allows insurers and self-insurers, who are required to pay into a general state fund on behalf of recipients without dependents, a means of recovering money paid to the state fund if dependents are thereafter located. The Act also allows the payment of permanent, partial disability benefits to employees who sustain hernia injuries in the course of employment. Finally, the Act gives the Workers\u27 Compensation Board the discretion to pay a claimant\u27s attorney\u27s fees directly from a trust fund, as opposed to forcing an attorney to collect fees from the claimant