Southwire Company v. Benefield

Benham, Judge,

concurring specially.

While I concur in the opinion and judgment of the majority, I do so reluctantly, as I feel that this is yet another instance in which an employer’s intentional tortious acts against its employee are unjustly protected by the Workers’ Compensation Act. This court is powerless to rectify such wrongs perpetrated against innocent workers, and the perpetration of such wrongs will continue unabated as long as the statutory exclusivity feature of the Workers’ Compensation Act remains unchanged. The current state of the law does nothing to discourage employers from acting in a manner that deleteriously affects their employees in this and other ways, and until the legislature takes some steps to modify the Act, I fear we will see these situations come before us time and time again. See, e.g., McCormick v. Mark Heard Fuel Co., 183 Ga. App. 488 (359 SE2d 171) (1987).