10/9/11

A Brief Historic Review Of Workers Compensation

By Chris Bohus


In the states, Workers' Compensation is typically known as workers' comp and is a form of insurance that provides an employee with compensation and medical treatment on account of being hurt or injured while at work. In exchange for this, the employee must give up their right to sue their employer for negligence. The Workers' Compensation laws in existence today stemmed from industrial societies that were more highly developed than the others and involved some hard fought struggles between business owners and the trade unions.

A Review of Workers' Compensation systems

Generally speaking, the systems which are established for Workers' Compensation try to strike compromises and also guaranteeing an employee that they will receive medical benefits and be compensated for time lost while at work on a no-fault basis. Just prior to Workers' Compensation laws being passed, the only opportunity for an employee to be compensated for injuries incurred at the job was to sue their employer for compensation depending on negligent acts of the employer.

Simultaneously, these employee-originated legal actions could cause significant drawbacks for the employee. The potential of a ruling in the employee's favor could lead to extremely large and unpredictable costs to the employer. Statutory systems for Workers' Compensation provide the injured employee with compensation for lost time at the job, medical expenses, and rehab therapy in prompt fashion. Limits are also put on the cost of this system for the injured individual's employer.

The Laws Before Workers' Compensation Exists

Just before Workers' Compensation being legally established, the only method an employee could be compensated for a job-related injury was due to pursuing civil or tort laws in the courts. Originally, in the UK, the perceived look at employment was a master-servant relationship for many decades. This forced an employee to prove that the employer was malicious or negligent, therefore contributing to their injury.

Though the employer's liability was quite limited at this time, the courts typically stood on the side of the employer if the case gone to litigation. Additionally, they paid very little awareness of the loss of wages that employees incurred while they were injured and could not perform their jobs. It seemed insignificant to the courts that there were lost pay, medical expenses mounting up, and the possibility that the employee could never work again.

Filing a Workers' Compensation claim

Once you file a Workers' Compensation claim, it is a fairly straightforward process which the injured party can handle by themselves. However, there are actually certain filing requirements that has to be followed. According to the specific circumstances and the required documentation, the preparation of the claim may become difficult and tedious and the injured party should be thinking about hiring the assistance of a skilled Workers' Compensation attorney to help them along the way.




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