Workers Comp

Worker's compensation has become a major aspect to employers and employees within today's workplace. When an employee becomes ill, injured, or dies due to causes within the work place the employee, or the employee's family is entitled to collect benefits from worker's comp. Not so many years ago employees could have been totally neglected by employers. Now, all fifty states and the federal government have some type of worker's compensation law. Therefore, numerous different workers' comp policies and laws now give employees a sense of security after getting injured within the workplace.

Workers Compensation is an employer financed, no-fault insurance, which compensates employees who have been disabled due to work-related injury or disease. Workers compensation is a state-mandated insurance system that pays benefits to workers injured on the job to cover medical care, part of the lost wages and permanent disability. The employers will receive immunity from civil lawsuits by employees over such workplace injuries. Employers can meet their workers compensation obligation by purchasing insurance or by becoming a state-certified self-insurer.

Workers compensation was traced from the origins back to Germany. Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck introduced a compulsory state run accident compensation system in 1884. It was first instituted in the United States, in response to serious societal problems caused by a dramatic rise in the number of people injured in industrial settings.

Before workmen's' comp the only way for an injured worker to gain any compensation to pay for medical expenses and loss of employment income, was to hire a lawyer and prove negligence or malice as far as the employer was concerned. Not only was hiring a lawyer difficult in those days due to lack of money, but proving negligence then was just as difficult if not harder than it is today. If and when the injured party proved the negligence of the employer then the road to recovery was often a long and drawn out process, not to mention expensive. Supporting a vast number of injured workers became a burden on the society. State legislators from across the United States began to look into the workers comp laws devise a way to withdraw lawsuits against employers from the Court system. The first state law was passed in Wisconsin in 1911. By 1948, all states had ratified some kind of workers' compensation law.

Each state enacted its own set of workers' compensation laws, and there is no Federal control over individual states' workers comp laws. Because the rules are not straightforward, it is almost always advisable that an injured worker obtains an attorney to guarantee his or her rights and maximize their awards. Some states even go the extra mile to limit the fees an attorney would charge when getting a Workers' Comp claim; meanwhile, other states allow attorney's fees as high as forty percent of the value of the claim.

The purpose of workers' comp is to get the employee back to work, as quickly as possible. However, if the employee is seriously injured or disabled and can not return to work, then the goal of the law is to cover the employee's medical expenses and to provide wages so that the employee does not become destitute and a burden on the state. Some employees, after the accident have a misconception that a workplace injury is basically a ticket to financial independence, which is not the case at all.

Employers must carry insurance because without it they run a big risk of heavy financial penalties. Insurance policies are available to employers through commercial insurance companies. If the employer is deemed an excessive risk, it can obtain coverage through an assigned-risk program. Large employers may save money by being self-insured. There are solvency requirements for each state that has self-insured employers. About twenty percent of all employees in the United States work for employers who are self-insured. There are twelve states that operate a state fund, and about a handful that have state-owned monopolies. The largest state fund is California's State Compensation Insurance Fund.

Most claims are handled smoothly, but even Workers' Comp cases end up in court. In the vast majority of states, Workers' Comp disputes begin with a special state administrative agency that hears the facts of the case and makes a ruling on what benefits should and should not be paid. In some cases employees even go as far as to falsely claim workers' comp benefits. Almost everyday throughout the United States, someone is convicted of collecting on a fraudulent claim. This is one of the many reasons why this particular law ends up in court so repeatedly. Workers' Comp was made to provide the employee with one less thing to worry about after being injured or disabled, especially if the employee is not well off. This small mercy however, can be taken for granted and manipulated to benefit the employee.

In 1897, England abolished the employer's liability act of 1880 and replaced it with a worker's compensation act. Meanwhile, the storm that swept through Europe during this period of industrialization reached the shores of the United States charge by the aftermath of the Civil War from 1816-1865.

At nature, the social insurance is a pact between employers and employee. Employers are command to cover medical care and provide wage replacement for injured workers; in exchange for this protection, the workers compensation became the exclusive remedy for workers. The courts have upheld this doctrine for nearly a century. In the middle of the 19th century, starting with railroad and mining, as employers' defense were reduced; they became more willing to purchased private accident insurance. The odds of injured workers winning in courts proved unsatisfactory the compensation for them was to little or nothing at all and does who manage to win in court had to wait years from the time of their injury to the time of payment. In Minnesota courts awarded for loss of an eye ranged from $290-2,700 in the early 20th century, for loss of foot, the range was $50-3,000 (Somers and Somers 1954:25).

In a study on Pittsburgh, out of two hundred and thirty-five fatally injured workers who left behind a least a wife and perhaps children as well, about a quarter received no compensation at all and another quarter of families received less than $100 (Lubove 1986; 48). Nor were modification of liability law sufficient to induce employers to make the workplace noticeably safer. Industrial incidents rates reached their all timed peak in the first decade of this 20th century. For example, 1907 over seven thousand workers were killed in just two industries railroad and mining (Berkowitz and Burton 1987; 17). Shortly