Workers Compensation Benefits

Workers compensation is the one of the required benefits that have to be offered from employers to their employees. According to (Milkovich, Newman, & Gerhart (2014), workers compensation costs employers on average around 58.3 billion dollars a year and it is considered as a major cost of doing business. Workers compensation is a type of no-fault insurance that covers injuries and illnesses that happen while one is at their place of employment. Some of the benefits that are given are for medical care, pertaining to work related injuries, temporary benefits, rehabilitation and training, and survivor benefits (Milkovich, Newman, & Gerhart, 2014). Social security is another required benefit, and as of today, mostly all working Americans are eligible. Whether a person becomes disabled or retires, social security benefits are paid to replace the of earnings that were lost (Milkovich, Newman, & Gerhart, 2014). Furthermore, around 69 percent of benefits go to retirees and their dependents, 16 percent to workers who are disabled as well as their dependents, and 16 percent to the survivors of beneficiaries who are deceased. The money to pay
for social security benefits comes from the contributions made to social security by employees and their employers throughout their working years. As the contributions are made throughout the years, they are used to pay for current beneficiaries. One issue with social security is that the number of people who are retiring continue to rise, while there is no increase in the number of contributions to social security to balance the costs (Milkovich, Newman, & Gerhart, 2014). Balance can be found by increasing earnings and the manner in which earnings are taxed. Unemployment insurance is a program that provides cash benefits to workers who are eligible, and it serves as a temporary financial assistance to people who are unemployed at no fault of their own (Milkovich, Newman, & Gerhart, 2014).
Coverage wise, besides a few agricultural and domestic workers, they are currently covered by unemployment insurance laws. Additionally, to be eligible for unemployment insurance, the person must meet the state requirements for wages earned within one year, which is known as the a base period. The maximum number of weeks that any worker can claim is 26 weeks, and several states have had to extend the benefit duration due to the previous recession. (Milkovich, Newman, & Gerhart, 2014). The weekly benefits are typically based on a percentage of a person’s earned income over a timeframe of a 52 week
period.