2020 Analysis of Workers' Compensation Laws - 6

private and public employees in nationwide maritime
work. Each of the Canadian provinces and territories has a
compensation act or ordinance as well.
In essence, workers' compensation laws hold that industrial
employers should assume costs of occupational disabilities
without regard to any fault involved. Resulting economic
losses are considered costs of production chargeable, to the
extent possible, as a price factor. The laws serve to relieve
employers of liability from common-law suits involving
negligence.
Six basic objectives underlie workers' compensation laws:
*	 Provide sure, prompt, and reasonable income and
medical benefits to work-accident victims or income
benefits to their dependents, regardless of fault.
*	 Provide a single remedy and reduce court delays, costs,
and workloads arising out of personal injury litigation.
*	 Relieve public and private charities of financially
draining incidents associated with uncompensated
industrial accidents.
*	 Eliminate payment of fees to lawyers and witnesses as
well as time-consuming trials and appeals.
*	 Encourage maximum employer interest in safety and
rehabilitation through appropriate experience-rating
mechanisms.
*	 Promote frank study of the causes of accidents (rather
than concealment of fault), thereby reducing the
number of preventable accidents and consequent
human suffering.
To what extent have the laws achieved their desired objectives?
Answers to this question vary from state to state and depend
on many factors, including the viewpoint of the appraiser.
However, a 1972 evaluation by the National Commission on
State Workmen's Compensation Laws concluded that state
laws were not living up to their potential, and the commission
made 84 recommendations for the improvement of the
system. Nineteen of these were labeled essential. Despite
this negative assessment, the commission was convinced that
workers' compensation is a fundamentally sound system and a
valued institution in our industrial economy.
In January 1976, the policy group of the Inter-Agency
Workers' Compensation Task Force, with members from
several U.S. government departments and agencies,
reported its findings on the need for reform of state workers'
compensation programs.

Essentially, the task force found that existing programs must
be reformed to bring about more effective management
at the state level, with the federal government monitoring
progress and providing technical assistance. The group felt
that, without a reordering of priorities and a new mode of
operation, workers' compensation would become more
expensive, less equitable, and less effective. After completing its
mission, the task force was merged with the Division of State
Workers' Compensation Standards in the Office of Workers'
Compensation Programs at the U.S. Department of Labor.
The constructive criticism rendered by the commission and
the task force gave new impetus to the development and
growth of workers' compensation laws, and these laws now
enjoy a more prominent role within the social insurance
system of the U.S. The commission and the task force both
rejected proposals to replace the various state programs
with one federal program. Nevertheless, legislation has been
introduced in the U.S. Congress for the past several years to
give the federal government a direct role in the state systems
by federally mandated "minimum standards." There has
never been sufficient support for these bills to move them
beyond the committee level.
A basic and oft-repeated objective of workers' compensation,
where there is broad agreement, is that coverage under the
acts should be virtually, if not completely, universal. For
various historical, political, economic, or administrative
reasons, no state law covers all forms of employment.
To aid employers in delineating the employment coverage
requirements, Charts I, II, and III outline the stipulations of
the various jurisdictions. Another basic objective for workers'
compensation is to provide compensation for all work-related
injuries and diseases. Note that workers' compensation does
not seek to cover all worker health problems. To make this
distinction, fairly uniform statutory definitions and tests
have been adopted in each state. Typically, the statute limits
compensation benefits to personal injury caused by accidents
arising out of and in the course of employment.
Although the test is fairly uniform, its interpretations have
not resulted in completely uniform coverage of injuries and
diseases. Initially, this problem was remedied by providing
coverage for specific occupational diseases. With advances in
medical technology and increased exposures to a growing
number of substances with a variety of physical stresses, it
became impractical to define work-related diseases by specific
enumeration. States have therefore amended their statutes
to provide coverage of all occupational diseases. Chart IV
portrays this shift in the laws, with every state and nearly
every provincial law recognizing all occupational diseases.

6 | 2020 Analysis of Workers' Compensation Laws
2020 Analysis of Workers' Compensation Laws

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of 2020 Analysis of Workers' Compensation Laws
