HB 991: Labor and industrial relations; definition of employment for certain services performed by certain healthcare technology platform contractors; provisions

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.

• 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.

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.

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.

• 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.

1. 2026-01-29House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
2. 2026-01-27House Second Readers (House)
3. 2026-01-16House First Readers (House)
4. 2026-01-15House Hopper (House)

• Todd Jones (R, HD-025)Primary sponsor
• Viola Davis (D, HD-087)
• Victor Anderson (R, HD-010)
• Rick Townsend (R, HD-179)
• Carter Barrett (R, HD-024)

• healthcare staffing apps
• gig worker classification
• unemployment insurance law
• hospital staffing
• labor law