Workers Compensation Problems
Annette Slaughter
College Writing Skills with Reading
Instructor: Gayle Ellis
14 February 2010
The workers’ compensation system was created to protect the injured worker; however workers are treated unfairly, refused services, and subjected to additional stress.
The workers’ compensation system was created to protect the injured worker, or that is what the government had intended it to do. It is the oldest social insurance program, and it was adopted by most states in the second decade of the 20th century. When this system was set up it was to insure the injured workers so that they would be entitled to certain benefits through a workers’ compensation insurance company no matter who caused the injury. The system was meant to be a tradeoff between the employee and the employer. The agreement was that the employee would receive benefits no matter whose fault the accident was, in return the employer could not be held liable for the injury even if their negligence caused the injury. Before this system was developed, an employee could sue an employer for on the job injuries. In return, the employer would try to prove that the employee was negligent, or that the employee was not performing their job properly when the injury occurred. This was time consuming process for all parties. Now, both parties have disputes over other issues, such as whether the injury happened while the employee was on the job, or how much in benefits the employee is entitled to receive. These benefits are not necessarily fair, so even though it was designed to protect the employee’s it actually protects the employer and the insurance companies more by limiting their legal liability and obligations. The system is very complicated and if a person is not familiar with the rules and procedures, they will probably not be treated fairly. This is the point where the injured worker needs to contact an attorney who knows how the workers’ compensation system works and is willing to
College Writing Skills with Reading
Instructor: Gayle Ellis
14 February 2010
The workers’ compensation system was created to protect the injured worker; however workers are treated unfairly, refused services, and subjected to additional stress.
The workers’ compensation system was created to protect the injured worker, or that is what the government had intended it to do. It is the oldest social insurance program, and it was adopted by most states in the second decade of the 20th century. When this system was set up it was to insure the injured workers so that they would be entitled to certain benefits through a workers’ compensation insurance company no matter who caused the injury. The system was meant to be a tradeoff between the employee and the employer. The agreement was that the employee would receive benefits no matter whose fault the accident was, in return the employer could not be held liable for the injury even if their negligence caused the injury. Before this system was developed, an employee could sue an employer for on the job injuries. In return, the employer would try to prove that the employee was negligent, or that the employee was not performing their job properly when the injury occurred. This was time consuming process for all parties. Now, both parties have disputes over other issues, such as whether the injury happened while the employee was on the job, or how much in benefits the employee is entitled to receive. These benefits are not necessarily fair, so even though it was designed to protect the employee’s it actually protects the employer and the insurance companies more by limiting their legal liability and obligations. The system is very complicated and if a person is not familiar with the rules and procedures, they will probably not be treated fairly. This is the point where the injured worker needs to contact an attorney who knows how the workers’ compensation system works and is willing to
Cited: Ball, Christopher A., and Bethany K. Laurence. Take Charge of Your Workers’ Compensation Claim. Nolo; 2nd California ed. February 1998. Boop, Gregory. “An Introduction to Workers’ Compensation.” About.com Business Insurance 9 Feb. 2010 “Division of Workers’ Compensation-The California Workers’ Compensation System.” Department of Industrial Relations. 9 Feb. 2010 Douglas, Michael. Workers’ Compensation 101. Douglas Pub, 5 October 2003. “Law and Claims Procedures.” Mississippi Workers’ Compensation, 13 July 2007. 9 Feb. 2010 “Workers Compensation.” J. Bradley Baker, LLC. 11 Feb. 2010 “Workers Compensation.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 9 Feb. 2010