WORKERS’ COMPENSATION BY: LAUREL ENGLISH

WHAT IS WORKERS’ COMPENSATION? ~Workers compensation is: a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her employer for the tort of negligence. *What does tort mean? ~Tort means: A wrongful act or an infringement of a right (other than under contract) leading to legal liability.

WHAT IS WORKERS COMPENSATION’S PURPOSE? *To compensate workers for medical expenses and wage loss when suffering from work-related injury or occupational diseases, so the employee can recover quickly and resume working. *To protect the employer against work-related injury lawsuits and allow minimal disruption of company production. *Injured workers can seek compensation form the BWC if their public or private employers contribute to the State Fund.

HOW DOES IT PROTECT THE EMPLOYEE? *Under the workers' compensation system, employers are required to purchase insurance that provides benefits to employees who suffer work-related injuries and illnesses. The system strikes a compromise between employers and employees: Employees get benefits regardless of who was at fault. In return, employers get protection from lawsuits by injured employees who want to be awarded money damages for pain and suffering or mental anguish. * Workers' compensation is governed by state, not federal, law, and each state's system differs slightly in the details. However, the structure and operation of the overall workers' compensation system is very similar from state to state. The main differences are the rates paid to injured employees and the procedural rules employers, employees, and insurance companies must abide by.

HOW DOES IT PROTECT THE EMPLOYER? * Workers' compensation laws protect people who are injured on the job. They are designed to ensure that employees who are injured or disabled on the job are provided with fixed monetary awards, eliminating the need for litigation. These laws also provide benefits for dependents of those workers who are killed because of work-related accidents or illnesses. Some laws also protect employers and fellow workers by limiting the amount an injured employee can recover from an employer and by eliminating the liability of co-workers in most accidents. State statutes establish this framework for most employment.

ARE THERE ANY COURT CASES THAT INVOLVE WITH THIS LAW? *CASE #1: Paving Worker Strikes Bowling Ball With Sledgehammer, Loses Eye and Workers' Comp Claim (Pennsylvania) *CASE #2: Worker's Termination for Distributing Pornography to Co-Workers Does Not Disqualify Him From Continued Disability Benefits (Utah) *CASE #3: Home-Based Worker Trips Over Her Dog Sustaining Compensable Injury (Oregon) *CASE #4: Employee's Tort Action Against Employer and Related Corporation Where Worker Fell From Helicopter While Hunting Deer in Mexico May Move Forward (Louisiana) *CASE #5: Injured Worker's Fatal Heart Attack While Holding Termination Letter Is Not Compensable (Pennsylvania) *CASE #6: Risk of Obese Employee's Getting Stuck in Cafeteria Booth Is Not Personal Risk; Award Should Have Been Given for Cracked Femur (Indiana)

WHY IS/WAS THIS LAW CONTROVERSIAL? *The idea that workers should be compensated for work-related injuries, and that governments should administer programs to ensure compensation, spread to the United States from Europe during the opening decade of the 20th century. Texas enacted its first Workers' Compensation law in Today, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have Workers' Compensation. * The 1917 Texas law provided the basic framework for the state's Workers' Compensation system for the next 72 years. In 1989, after much controversy, a new Texas Workers' Compensation law was enacted, becoming effective in Provisions of this law set up specific billing and reporting requirements for physicians treating injured workers and enact a new income benefit and administrative dispute systems. During the 2001 Texas legislative session, lawmakers passed House Bill 2600 (HB 2600), which significantly changed the delivery of health care to injured Texas workers.

TO WRAP THINGS UP!!!!! *I hope you learned some new things about Workers Compensation. Thanks and goodbye.