subject: The History Of Worker's Compensation Insurance [print this page] Workers' compensation insurance exists to protect employees and employers in the event that one gets injured at work. However, things weren't always as clear cut in the United States. It's been about a little over 100 years since the first workers' compensation laws were enacted. Since then, the laws are constantly undergoing reform and change, but it remains clear that workers' compensation insurance is vital to good business growth, as well as a part of the national labor laws.
In the past, employers had a lot of power they chose to abuse it. Sometimes workers would get injured and employers would simply just fire their employees. When you think of scenes like this, you think of reform. You also think of Upton Sinclair and the book The Jungle. Before the first reforms of labor in the 1900s, the only way an employee would get reimbursed for work injury was through a civil court case. Obviously, if you were a worker at the time, it was difficult to get reimbursed at all.
Sometimes people get heavily injured at work. Hopefully the business has a good workers' compensation policy that can protect the worker, provide for lost wages, and give out a sum of money in compensation. This form of protection is called liability insurance, and it exists to help fund medical expenses of employees, as well as other forms of liability. These days, if employees decide to sue their employer, there are special liability clauses that will provide any necessary worker' compensation and legal costs to the employer.
Nowadays, workers compensation insurance exists alongside law and policy. It can get pretty complicated depending on where you live in your particular jurisdiction. Disclaimer: you must find professional and legal advice. We're not providing any professional advice nor are we providing legal advice in these articles, and use at own risk. This is simply a history. Worker's compensation helped to standardize how employers respond to employees, as well as to give more labor rights to entire groups of people. It is certainly standing up for the underdog employee. There are also economic protection benefits for employers.
Many workers' compensation programs in the United States exist with government. Recently certain states have allowed privatization of works compensation programs. Worker's compensation insurance is dispensed by certain insurance providers that work directly with the federal and state governments. Truth be told, each state has its own procedures and thus it is quite difficult to generalize about workers compensation. Each state and each jurisdiction has its own quirks.
As a part of labor law and labor reform, workers' compensation programs are continually being changed. There is a lot of law involved in worker's compensation, so it is very difficult to inform consumers and employees about their rights. Furthermore, rights, as well as procedure for cases will differ by state. There are people who specialize in these fields, and the best way to learn more in detail about workers compensation insurance is to talk to professionals in the field.
by: Casey Trillbar
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