How many employees before a Georgia nonprofit needs workers' compensation?

Three. Georgia requires workers' compensation insurance once a business, including a nonprofit, regularly has 3 or more employees, under O.C.G.A. 34-9-2(a)(2). This threshold is lower than in some neighboring states, so a growing nonprofit staff can cross it faster than expected.

"Regularly" is the operative word in the statute. The count is not a single day's headcount, it is the organization's ongoing employment pattern. A nonprofit that consistently has three or more paid staff on payroll meets the threshold even if the exact number fluctuates week to week. Volunteers, independent contractors properly classified as such, and board members serving without pay do not count toward the three-employee threshold. Paid staff, whether full-time or part-time, do count.

Example: a nonprofit thrift store operates with two part-time paid cashiers and a rotating group of volunteers who sort donations. When the store hires a third part-time cashier to cover weekend shifts, it crosses the threshold. Georgia law requires workers' compensation coverage for that staff once the third paid position is filled, even though all three employees work part-time and the volunteers remain uncovered by workers' compensation because they are not employees.

Workers' compensation pays an injured employee's medical treatment and a portion of lost wages after a work-related injury, regardless of fault, and in exchange generally limits the employee's ability to sue the employer directly over that injury. Without it, a workplace injury at a three-or-more-employee nonprofit can expose the organization to a direct lawsuit and out-of-pocket medical costs.

The threshold applies the same way to nonprofits as it does to any other Georgia business or employer, a point covered more broadly in does Georgia law require nonprofit insurance. Details on what a workers' compensation policy covers and how it is priced are on the workers compensation insurance page, and how it fits into a nonprofit's broader coverage set is on the Georgia nonprofit insurance page. A nonprofit approaching the three-employee mark can have its staffing and coverage reviewed through a coverage review.