Staffing Agency Liability for Temp Worker Negligence in Georgia

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Behind a temporary worker whose mistake hurts someone stand the staffing agency that employs the worker and the business that directs the work. Georgia’s Code describes that arrangement, makes a person liable for a servant’s torts within the scope of the person’s business, and extends workers’ compensation immunity to a business that uses temporary help.

How Georgia Describes the Arrangement

A “temporary help contracting firm” is “any person who is in the business of employing individuals and, for compensation from a third party, providing those individuals to perform work for the third party under the general or direct supervision of the third party.” Employment with such a firm “is characterized by a series of limited-term assignments of an employee to a third party, based on a contract between the temporary help contracting firm and the third party,” and “[a] separate employment contract exists between the temporary help contracting firm and each individual it hires as an employee” (OCGA 34-8-46). The employment contract runs to the agency, and the supervision runs to the business that receives the work.

Liability for the Worker’s Acts

Georgia makes a person liable for torts that the person’s servant commits by the person’s command, or in the prosecution and within the scope of the person’s business, whether negligently or voluntarily (OCGA 51-2-2). Liability turns on the servant acting by the person’s command or within the scope of the person’s business.

A lent worker’s scope of employment can end before an accident. In Grant v. Jones, 168 Ga. App. 690 (1983), a worker whose regular employer lent the worker to another business for one day to cut grass took a tractor for personal use after the job was done. The Court of Appeals described the worker as “a borrowed servant” and stated that “[t]he testimony was uncontradicted that he was not acting within the scope of his employment at the time the accident occurred.”

When the Person Hurt Is a Co-Worker

When the person hurt works at the same business, workers’ compensation law comes into play. The statute leaves an employee free to sue third-party tort-feasors, and a co-employee of the same employer is not one of them (OCGA 34-9-11(a)), so whether the temporary worker and the injured co-worker count as employees of the same employer shapes the claim.

Both Companies as Defendants

Where more than one person is liable, the trier of fact divides the award among them by each one’s percentage of fault, and each pays only its own share rather than the whole award jointly (OCGA 51-12-33(b)).

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the staffing firm the employer for workers’ compensation purposes?
Yes. The temporary help contracting firm “shall be deemed to be a statutory employer for the purposes of this chapter” (OCGA 34-9-11(c)).

Does the business escape liability if the worker runs an independent business?
Georgia’s general rule shields an employer from liability for a worker who runs an independent business outside the employer’s immediate direction and control (OCGA 51-2-4). A temporary worker placed under the business’s supervision is described differently in OCGA 34-8-46.

Can a temp worker who was hurt on the job sue the business that supervised the work?
The immunity of the workers’ compensation chapter “shall apply and extend to the businesses using the services of a temporary help contracting firm” when either the firm or the business provides the required benefits (OCGA 34-9-11(c)).

  • OCGA 34-8-46
  • OCGA 51-2-2; OCGA 51-2-4
  • Grant v. Jones, 168 Ga. App. 690 (1983)
  • OCGA 34-9-11(a), (c)
  • OCGA 51-12-33(b)

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about liability for a temporary worker’s negligence under Georgia law. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Which company is responsible depends on the staffing contract, the supervision of the work, and the specific facts. A person hurt by a temporary worker should consult a licensed Georgia attorney promptly about the particular situation.

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