Georgia CommonsHouse · Introduced · 2025-2026 Regular Session
HB 991: Labor and industrial relations; definition of employment for certain services performed by certain healthcare technology platform contractors; provisions
Last action January 29, 2026 · House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute
HB 991 would let healthcare staffing apps classify workers who pick up shifts at hospitals and other facilities as independent contractors rather than employees, if the company follows specific hands-off rules.
The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the bill and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Comm Sub version, the latest the General Assembly's website lists.
In plain language
Under current Georgia law, whether a healthcare worker who finds shifts through an app counts as an employee or an independent contractor affects unemployment insurance and other labor protections. HB 991 amends Georgia's employment security law (O.C.G.A. § 34-8-35) to carve out an exception: workers who perform healthcare or related services at a facility through a 'healthcare technology platform company's' app can be classified outside the normal definition of employment, but only if the company's written contract with them meets a list of conditions. Those conditions bar the company from setting mandatory schedules, punishing workers for turning down shifts, blocking them from using other similar apps when not working, restricting other jobs, dictating equipment or work methods, or charging a fee if a worker takes a permanent job with the facility. The company must also carry general and professional liability insurance covering these workers while they perform facilitated services. The exclusion applies only to this specific arrangement and does not change how these platform contractors are classified in any other context. The law would take effect as soon as the Governor signs it.
What the bill does
- Adds a new exception to Georgia's definition of employment (O.C.G.A. § 34-8-35) for healthcare workers who get shifts through a technology platform company's app.
- Requires the platform company's contract with the worker to avoid setting mandatory schedules or a minimum number of required hours.
- Bars the platform company from punishing a worker for declining shifts, blocking use of other apps during off-hours, or restricting other outside work.
- Prohibits the company from dictating the equipment, tools, or work methods a worker uses at the healthcare facility.
- Bans the platform company from charging a fee if a worker accepts a permanent job offer from the healthcare facility.
- Requires platform companies to maintain general and professional liability insurance covering contractors while they perform app-facilitated services.
Who it affects
Healthcare professionals and workers, licensed or unlicensed, who pick up shifts through staffing apps; the technology companies that run those apps; and healthcare facilities such as hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living communities, and home health agencies that use platform-sourced workers.
Why it matters
The bill would change how these gig-style healthcare shift workers are treated under Georgia's employment law, affecting whether they can claim unemployment benefits as employees. It also sets baseline contract protections and insurance requirements meant to preserve some worker flexibility even as they are classified as contractors.
Key provisions
- Section 1 adds paragraph (16.2) to O.C.G.A. § 34-8-35(n), excluding certain platform-facilitated healthcare services from the definition of employment.
- The exclusion applies only if the platform company's contract avoids seven specific controls, including mandatory scheduling and equipment requirements, listed in subparagraph (A).
- Subparagraph (B) limits the exclusion strictly to services performed at a healthcare facility through the platform, without affecting classification in other situations.
- Subparagraph (C) defines 'healthcare facility,' 'healthcare technology platform company,' 'healthcare technology platform contractor,' and 'person' for purposes of this exception.
- Platform companies must carry general and professional liability insurance for contractors during platform-facilitated work, per the definition in (C)(ii).
- Section 2 makes the Act effective immediately upon the Governor's signature or upon becoming law without signature.
From the bill
“Terminate such contract for not accepting, and shall not require an individual to accept, any specific service or shift request as a condition of maintaining access to such company's application or platform”
“Assess a fee or otherwise require compensation from a healthcare facility or healthcare technology platform contractor if such contractor accepts an offer of employment from such facility”
Discussed in meetings (5)
The House and Senate meetings that took this bill up, from their machine transcripts. Each account was written by Georgia Commons with AI and is not part of the record; the video is what was said.
House Industry and Labor Committee, January 28, 2026
From 0:38:24 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said the bill would classify healthcare workers taking contract shifts through digital platforms as independent contractors for that work. The sponsor said as many as 95% of workers using such a platform already had employee jobs elsewhere and were picking up extra shifts. Following negotiations, the sponsor proposed deleting sections two and three to avoid unintended workers’ compensation consequences. The sponsor also proposed removing the platform’s occupational accident insurance requirement and its related definition, while retaining general and professional insurance language. A witness for the Workers’ Comp Claimants Lawyers Association said the sponsor had addressed the association’s concerns. A legal adviser offered a third amendment to update the bill’s introductory description and numbering to reflect the deletions. The committee adopted all three amendments together by voice vote, then approved the amended bill by voice vote and sent it to the Rules Committee. No numerical vote totals were announced.
House Rules Committee, February 2, 2026
From 0:39:09 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said HB 991 would allow health care workers taking shifts through a technology platform to retain independent-contractor classification. The sponsor described nurses and physical and occupational therapists who already have employee jobs at hospitals but pick up one or two additional shifts a month. No questions or calendar action followed.
Status timeline
- House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
- House Hopper (House)
Sponsors
- Todd Jones (R, HD-25)
- Viola Davis (D, HD-87)
- Victor Anderson (R, HD-10)
- Rick Townsend (R, HD-179)
- Carter Barrett (R, HD-24)
Topics
- healthcare staffing apps
- gig worker classification
- unemployment insurance law
- hospital staffing
- labor law