What Happens If You Resign While on Workers’ Compensation in Georgia or South Carolina?

If you are receiving workers’ compensation benefits after a workplace injury in Georgia or South Carolina, you may be considering leaving your job — whether because of a hostile work environment, a better opportunity, health reasons, or simply because you cannot continue working for an employer who let you get hurt. The critical question is: will resigning end your workers’ comp benefits? For general background on how these systems work, the Cornell Law Institute’s workers’ compensation overview provides useful context.

The answer is more nuanced than a simple yes or no. Resigning does not automatically terminate your right to workers’ compensation benefits — but it can create significant complications that insurers will exploit to reduce or cut off your payments. Understanding the rules in your state before you resign is essential to protecting your claim.

Will Resigning End Your Workers’ Comp Benefits?

No — not automatically. Workers’ compensation benefits are based on your work-related injury, not your employment status. The injury happened while you were employed, and your right to benefits for that injury does not vanish simply because you later leave the job. However, your resignation can affect different types of benefits in different ways:

The key risk is that your resignation gives the insurer an argument — even if it is a weak one — that your current loss of income is voluntary rather than caused by the injury. This is why the circumstances and timing of your resignation matter enormously.

How Resignation Affects Medical Benefits

In both Georgia and South Carolina, your right to medical treatment for your work injury continues regardless of whether you are still employed. The employer’s workers’ comp insurer remains responsible for reasonable and necessary medical care related to the workplace injury — including doctor visits, surgery, physical therapy, prescription medications, and medical devices. In Georgia, medical benefits for non-catastrophic injuries on or after July 1, 2013 run for up to 400 weeks from the date of injury (O.C.G.A. § 34-9-200); in South Carolina, the Commission can extend treatment beyond the first ten weeks, for life in permanent-total cases (S.C. Code § 42-15-60). Resigning changes neither.

This is true whether you resign, are fired, are laid off, or leave for any other reason. The medical benefit obligation is tied to the injury, not the employment relationship.

However, be aware that if you take a new job after resigning and experience worsening symptoms, the original employer’s insurer may argue that the new job caused the aggravation — shifting responsibility for new treatment costs to the new employer’s insurer or to you. Documenting your condition carefully before, during, and after any job change is critical.

How Resignation Affects Wage Replacement Benefits

This is where resignation creates the most risk. Wage replacement benefits — TTD and TPD — are designed to compensate you for income lost because of your injury. When you resign voluntarily, the insurer will argue that your income loss is due to your choice to leave, not your injury.

Temporary Total Disability (TTD)

If you are still completely unable to work due to your injury — and your doctor has not released you to any type of work — TTD benefits should continue after resignation. Your inability to work is medically documented and exists regardless of whether you technically have a job to return to.

The risk increases if your doctor has released you to light duty work. If the employer was offering light-duty work within your restrictions and you resigned instead of accepting it, the insurer has a strong argument that your wage loss is voluntary.

Temporary Partial Disability (TPD)

TPD benefits are calculated based on the difference between your pre-injury wages and your current reduced earnings. If you resign and have no earnings at all, the insurer will argue this is not the same as being unable to earn — it is a choice not to earn. TPD benefits are the most vulnerable to disruption after resignation.

Georgia Rules: Resignation and Workers’ Comp

The Supreme Court of Georgia has addressed the resignation issue in two key decisions: Maloney v. Gordon County Farms, 265 Ga. 825 (1995), and Padgett v. Waffle House, Inc., 269 Ga. 105 (1998). The general principles under Georgia workers’ compensation law:

• Resignation does not automatically terminate benefits. The Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation looks at whether the wage loss is attributable to the injury or to the voluntary departure.
• The refusal-of-suitable-employment defense. Insurers often call this “voluntary limitation of income,” but that phrase is not in the statute. Under O.C.G.A. § 34-9-240, an employee who unjustifiably refuses suitable employment is not entitled to income benefits during the refusal (PPD benefits are excepted). Leaving a job you were capable of performing is treated as a change in condition under O.C.G.A. § 34-9-104, and your wage benefits can be suspended.
• The burden depends on who is asking. If the employer wants to stop TTD after a release to restricted work, it must prove you can work and that suitable work within your restrictions is available. But if you resign and later seek TTD again, Maloney puts the burden on you: continuing limitations from the injury and a diligent but unsuccessful search for suitable work — unless the injury itself caused you to leave (Padgett).
• Why you left matters. Georgia workers’ comp law has no “constructive discharge” doctrine. If the injury or the employer’s response to it — such as assigning duties outside your authorized treating physician’s restrictions — caused the separation, you do not have to prove a job search, and a firing that is a pretext to avoid paying benefits meets the same test (Padgett).

South Carolina Rules: Resignation and Workers’ Comp

South Carolina takes a similar approach, with some differences:

• Benefits survive resignation. South Carolina pays compensation for disability “resulting from an injury” (S.C. Code §§ 42-9-10 and 42-9-20), and nothing in the Workers’ Compensation Law ends benefits on resignation.
• Voluntary departure defense. Similar to Georgia, the insurer can argue that wage loss is due to voluntary departure rather than the injury. The Commission asks whether any refusal of suitable work was “justified,” and if your temporary disability payments are stopped you can request a hearing, which must be held within sixty days (S.C. Code § 42-9-260).
• Unjustified refusal to work. Under S.C. Code § 42-9-190, if an injured worker refuses suitable employment that is approved by the Commission, compensation stops during the refusal unless the Commission finds the refusal justified. Resigning from a job that accommodated your restrictions could be viewed as refusing suitable employment.
• Good cause matters. If you resigned for a reason directly related to your injury — for example, the employer refused to honor your restrictions, the job was worsening your condition, or you relocated for medical treatment — the Commission is more likely to find that benefits should continue.

Voluntary Resignation vs. Constructive Discharge

The reason you resigned makes an enormous difference to your benefits. Courts and workers’ comp boards distinguish between:

Truly Voluntary Resignation

You chose to leave for personal reasons unrelated to the injury — a better job offer, relocation for family reasons, retirement, or personal preference. In this scenario, the insurer has the strongest argument for suspending wage replacement benefits (though medical benefits continue).

Injury-Related Resignation

You left because your injury prevents you from performing the job, the employer could not accommodate your restrictions, or your doctor recommended you stop working. These circumstances strongly support continued benefits because the resignation was effectively forced by the injury.

Constructive Discharge

Your employer made your work environment so intolerable that a reasonable person would feel compelled to resign. This includes:

• Retaliation for filing a workers’ comp claim
• Assigning duties that violate your medical restrictions
• Harassment or hostility related to your injury or claim
• Demoting or cutting your hours in retaliation
• Creating unsafe conditions that risk re-injury

Neither state’s workers’ compensation law has a formal “constructive discharge” doctrine, and nothing automatically keeps your wage benefits in place. What matters in both states is why you left: in Georgia, a separation caused by the injury relieves you of proving a job search (Padgett); in South Carolina, the Commission weighs whether leaving was justified under S.C. Code § 42-9-190. Either way, proving it requires documentation.

What If Your Employer Offered Light Duty Before You Resigned?

This is one of the most dangerous scenarios for your benefits. If your employer offered you a light-duty position within your medical restrictions and you resigned instead of accepting it, the insurer will argue you voluntarily refused suitable employment.

In Georgia, refusing a suitable job offered in writing within your authorized treating physician’s restrictions lets the employer suspend income benefits without a Board order under O.C.G.A. § 34-9-240 and State Board Rule 240 (PPD benefits are not suspended). In South Carolina, refusing Commission-approved suitable employment bars compensation during the refusal unless the Commission finds it justified (S.C. Code § 42-9-190). Either way, your wage replacement benefits are at serious risk.

Before rejecting a light-duty offer, consider:

• Is the job genuinely within your restrictions? If the duties exceed what your doctor authorized, you are not refusing suitable work — you are protecting your health.
• Is the offer made in good faith? Some employers create “phantom” light-duty positions that exist only on paper to manufacture a refusal they can report to the insurer.
• Is the pay and schedule comparable? Lower pay or fewer hours alone does not make a job unsuitable: both states measure “suitable” against your physical capacity, and the wage gap is what TPD benefits (two-thirds of the difference) are for.

Taking a New Job While on Workers’ Compensation

You are generally allowed to take a new job while receiving workers’ comp benefits, but it affects your payments:

• If the new job pays equal to or more than your pre-injury wage: TTD benefits end because you are no longer losing income due to the injury
• If the new job pays less than your pre-injury wage: You may be entitled to TPD benefits covering two-thirds of the difference
• Medical benefits continue regardless — the original insurer still covers treatment for the work injury
• Report your new employment to the workers’ comp insurer. Failure to disclose new income while receiving wage benefits can result in fraud allegations and penalties.

Can Your Employer Pressure You to Resign?

The two states treat employer retaliation for a workers’ compensation claim very differently:

• Georgia: Georgia has no retaliation claim for an at-will employee pushed out over a workers’ comp claim; the Court of Appeals declined to create one in Evans v. Bibb Co., 178 Ga. App. 139 (1986). But a firing that is a pretext to avoid paying benefits supports continued income benefits (Padgett).
• South Carolina: S.C. Code § 41-1-80 prohibits an employer from discharging or demoting an employee for instituting a workers’ comp claim in good faith. The remedy is lost wages and reinstatement, the employee carries the burden of proof, and the action must be brought within one year.

If your employer is creating a hostile environment, assigning you duties beyond your restrictions, or otherwise pressuring you to leave because of your claim, document everything and consult an attorney before resigning. This evidence shows why you left, which matters to your benefits in both states.

Steps to Take Before Resigning

If you are considering resignation while on workers’ compensation, protect yourself by taking these steps first:

1. Consult a workers’ compensation attorney. This is the single most important step. An attorney can evaluate your specific situation, advise you on how resignation will affect your benefits, and help you plan the timing and documentation.
2. Get your doctor’s opinion in writing. If your injury is the reason you cannot continue working, ask your physician to document this clearly — including your current restrictions and why the job is not suitable.
3. Document everything. If you are being pressured to resign, keep records of every incident — emails, text messages, witness names, dates and times. This evidence supports a constructive discharge argument.
4. Do not sign anything from your employer without attorney review. Severance agreements, general releases, and settlement offers may waive your workers’ comp rights.
5. Understand the light-duty situation. If your employer is offering light duty, have your attorney evaluate whether the offer is genuine and within your restrictions before you make a decision.
6. Consider timing. If possible, wait until you have reached MMI and received your impairment rating before resigning. PPD benefits based on an impairment rating are less vulnerable to the voluntary-departure defense than TTD or TPD benefits.

Talk to a Workers’ Compensation Lawyer First

Resigning while on workers’ comp is one of the highest-risk decisions an injured worker can make. The wrong timing or circumstances can give the insurer the ammunition it needs to suspend your benefits. Before you resign, get legal advice.

At Roden Law, our attorneys handle workers’ compensation cases from offices in Savannah, Darien, Charleston, Columbia, and Myrtle Beach. We work on a contingency fee basis — you pay nothing unless we recover benefits for you.

Thinking about resigning while on workers’ comp? Call Roden Law at 1-844-RESULTS or contact us online for a free consultation before you make any decisions. We will evaluate how resignation would affect your benefits and help you protect your rights.

About the Author

Graeham C. Gillin

Partner, COO