Where compensation is payable for an occupational disease, the employer in whose employment the employee was last injuriously exposed to the hazards of such disease and the insurance carrier, if any, by whom the employer was insured when such employee was last so exposed under such employer shall alone be liable therefor, without right of contribution from any prior employer or insurance carrier. The amount of the compensation for any occupational disease shall be based upon the average weekly wages of the employee, as determined under Code Section 34-9-260. The date upon which the employee first suffers disablement from the occupational disease or the last date the employee was employed by any employer, whichever date would provide the higher average weekly wage for such employee, shall be deemed the date of the injury for the purpose of determining the average weekly wage; and the notice of injury and claim for compensation, as required by Code Sections 34-9-80 through 34-9-82, 34-9-85, and 34-9-86, shall be given and made to such employer.
(Code 1933, § 114-809, enacted by Ga. L. 1946, p. 103; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 34; Ga. L. 1987, p. 1474, § 3.)
Editor's notes.- Ga. L. 1987, p. 1474, § 17, not codified by the General Assembly, provided that that Act would apply to any occupational disease not previously diagnosed before July 1, 1987.
Law reviews.- For annual survey on worker's compensation, see 71 Mercer L. Rev. 345 (2019).
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Court erred by substituting its own finding.
- Trial court erred by reversing a decision denying the claim for workers' compensation benefits because the award was not legally erroneous and was supported by some evidence that the claimant failed to carry the burden of proving by a preponderance of competent and credible evidence that the former employer was the employer when last injuriously exposed to asbestos. McKenney's, Inc. v. Sinyard, 350 Ga. App. 260, 828 S.E.2d 639 (2019), cert. denied, No. S19C1348, 2020 Ga. LEXIS 25 (Ga. 2020).
Cited in Lanier v. Jim Brown Dev. Corp., 199 Ga. App. 255, 404 S.E.2d 626 (1991).
RESEARCH REFERENCES
Am. Jur. 2d.
- 82 Am. Jur. 2d, Workers' Compensation, § 311 et seq.
C.J.S.- 100 C.J.S., Workers' Compensation, § 945 et seq.
ALR.- Workers' compensation: Liability of successive employers for disease or condition allegedly attributable to successive employments, 34 A.L.R.4th 958.