HB991: HB991 Labor and industrial relations; definition of employment for certain services performed by certain healthcare technology platform contractors; provisions

Under current Georgia law, workers are generally classified as employees unless they meet specific tests for independent contractor status. This bill adds a new exception to that law (O.C.G.A. § 34-8-35) for people who find healthcare shifts through an app or online platform, sometimes called gig-style healthcare staffing platforms. To qualify for this exception, the platform company must have a written contract with the worker that bars the company from setting fixed hours, punishing workers for turning down shifts, blocking them from using competing platforms or other jobs, requiring specific equipment, controlling how they do their work, or charging a fee if a facility hires the worker directly. Platform companies must also carry general and professional liability insurance covering these workers while they perform facilitated shifts. The exception applies only to services performed through the platform at a healthcare facility and does not affect how the worker is classified in any other context. The law would take effect as soon as the Governor signs it.

• Creates a new exception in Georgia's employment definition law (O.C.G.A. § 34-8-35) for healthcare workers who get shifts through a technology platform's app.
• Requires the platform company's contract with the worker to prohibit setting fixed schedules, penalizing declined shifts, or requiring exclusive use of the platform.
• Bars platform companies from requiring specific equipment or controlling how the worker performs the job, and from charging fees if a facility later hires the worker directly.
• Requires healthcare technology platform companies to carry general and professional liability insurance covering contractors during platform-facilitated shifts.
• Limits the exception strictly to platform-facilitated shifts at healthcare facilities, leaving worker classification unchanged in any other situation.
• Sets the effective date as the day the Governor signs the bill or it otherwise becomes law without signature.

The bill affects healthcare workers who pick up shifts through staffing apps, the technology companies that run those platforms, and healthcare facilities such as hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living communities, and home health agencies that use these workers.

If enacted, workers who take shifts through these apps could be treated as independent contractors rather than employees for those specific shifts, which affects eligibility for benefits like unemployment insurance under this section, while platform companies would face new insurance and contract requirements.

• Section 1 adds paragraph (16.2) to O.C.G.A. § 34-8-35, excluding certain platform-facilitated healthcare services from the definition of employment.
• Subparagraph (A) lists seven contract terms a platform company must follow, including not dictating hours, not penalizing declined shifts, and not restricting outside work.
• Subparagraph (B) limits the exclusion to platform-facilitated shifts at healthcare facilities and says it does not affect classification in other circumstances.
• Subparagraph (C) defines 'healthcare facility,' 'healthcare technology platform company,' 'healthcare technology platform contractor,' and 'person,' and requires platform companies to carry liability insurance for contractors.
• Section 2 makes the Act effective immediately upon the Governor's signature or upon becoming law without signature.
• Section 3 repeals conflicting laws.

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
• gig work
• independent contractor classification
• labor law
• hospital staffing apps