Difference between revisions of "Workers' compensation" - New World Encyclopedia

Latest revision as of 16:31, 10 October 2020

Workers' compensation provides insurance to cover medical care and compensation for employees who are injured in the course of employment, in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue their employer for the tort of negligence. Employees' compensation laws were first enacted in Europe and Oceania, with the United States following shortly thereafter. Workers' compensation programs were a key component of the labor structure of the former Soviet Union and similar societies.

The intent of workers' compensation is to ensure that all members in the society who put in legitimate time at work, but are injured during the performance of that work, are compensated at a rate that allows them to live within that society with adequate food, housing, clothes, and such essentials. The emergence of workers' compensation reflects the increasing consciousness of the need to care for all members of society, as many human rights issues became prominent. This century marks the age in which the rights of all individuals began to be recognized in cultures around the world, a significant step in the establishment of a world of peace and harmony.

Definition and purpose

Workers' compensation is payment made to an employee by an employer who is injured or disabled in the course of work. This insurance exists to provide some source of income to the families of disabled workers so as to ward off poverty and allow them to maintain a reasonable standard of living. Workers' compensation is particularly important in cases in which the injury is due to the employer's fault such as maintaining an unsafe work environment.

History

Workers' compensation developed during the Industrial Revolution. During this period the shift from traditional methods of productivity to the use of machinery led to an increased rate of injury for workers. Initially workers could only sue their employees through the courts or subject themselves to welfare.

The first workers' compensation laws arose in Europe in the late 1800s and later spread to the United States and Canada. These laws guaranteed prompt and fair restitution to injured employees and protected employers from expensive, protracted legal battles as workers were prohibited from filing suit after accepting workers' compensation.^[1]

Forms

Workers' compensation can take a number of different forms. Provision can be made for weekly payments in place of wages (functioning in this case as a form of disability insurance), compensation for economic loss (past and future), reimbursement or payment of medical and like expenses (functioning in this case as a form of health insurance), and benefits payable to the dependents of workers killed during employment (functioning in this case as a form of life insurance). General damages for pain and suffering, and punitive damages for employer negligence, are generally not available in workers' compensation plans. Cash benefits are established by state formulas with maximum benefit level. The benefits are administered on a state level, primarily by the state department of labor.

These laws are usually a feature of highly developed industrial societies, implemented after long and hard fought struggles by trade unions. Supporters of such schemes believe they improve working conditions and provide an economic safety net for employees. Conversely, these schemes are often criticized for removing or restricting workers' common law rights (such as suit in tort for negligence) in order to reduce governments' or insurance companies' financial liability.

Statutory compensation law

Statutory compensation law provides advantages to both employees and employers. A schedule is drawn out to state the amount and forms of compensation an employee is entitled to, if he or she has sustained the stipulated kinds of injuries. Employers can buy insurance against such occurrences. However, the specific form of the statutory compensation scheme may provide detriments. Statutory schemes often award a set amount based on the types of injury. These payments are based on the ability of the worker to find employment in a partial capacity: a worker who has lost an arm can still find work as a proportion of a fully-able person. This does not account for the difficulty in finding work suiting disability. When employers are required to put injured staff on "light-duties" the employer may simply state that no light duty work exists, and sack the worker as unable to fulfill specified duties. When new forms of workplace injury are discovered, for instance: stress, repetitive strain injury, silicosis; the law often lags behind actual injury and offers no suitable compensation, forcing the employer and employee back to the courts (although in common law jurisdictions these are usually one-off instances). Finally, caps on the value of disabilities may not reflect the total cost of providing for a disabled worker. The government may legislate the value of total spinal incapacity at far below the amount required to keep a worker in reasonable living conditions for the remainder of his life.

A related issue is that the same physical loss can have a markedly different impact on the earning capacity of individuals in different professions. For instance, the loss of a finger could have a moderate impact on a banker's ability to do his or her job, but the same injury would totally ruin a pianist.

Compensation prior to statutory law

Prior to the statutory scheme of the workers' compensation, employees who were injured on the job were only able to pursue their employer through civil or torts law. In the United Kingdom, the legal view of employment as a master-servant relationship required employees to prove employer malice or negligence, a high burden for employees to meet. Although employers' liability was unlimited, courts usually ruled in favor of employers, paying little attention to the full losses experienced by workers, including medical costs, lost wages, and loss of future earning capacity.

Opposition to statutory compensation

Opponents argue that workers' compensation laws may hurt the workers they were designed to help. Large employers may have an incentive to move segments of their business—and their jobs—to areas where workers' compensation benefits (and other employee protections) are less generous or are harder to obtain. These many areas lack a unified and national set of employee entitlements covering minimum wage, wage and hour, or collective bargaining rights in addition to compensation. Labor unions describe this system as a race to the bottom, as state legislatures cut employee entitlements to attract capital. Moreover, applying laws to citizens (or organizations) abroad, is an exception rather than the rule under common law.

Employers in the developed world can also move some operations to other countries where employee entitlements are much lower, and where there may be no workers' compensation or other legal remedies at all for workers who are injured or who are exposed to hazardous substances while on the job. Such countries may also have weaker or no legal protections available for employees in areas such as job discrimination, social security, or the right to organize or to join a trade union.

Some small business owners complain that the cost of workers’ compensation, which they pay in the form of insurance premiums, places a heavy burden on them.

Those in favor of distributism, or the idea that ownership should be spread widely among members of a society, criticize workers' compensation for what it represents. Distributists believe that workers, in fact most people in a society, should have some ownership over their employment and the means of production. As such, workers should have a stake in their place of employment's success. As a result, those workers injured on the job would not necessarily need a new stream of income to replace their lost wages as they would in fact already be profiting from the business as a part owner. Distributists see workers' compensation as emblematic of the disconnect between workers and ownership that they believe should not exist.^[2]^[3]

Notes

↑ Workers' Compensation History American Association of State Compensation Insurance Funds. Retrieved February 13, 2008.
↑ Centesimus Anus The Vatican. Retrieved February 13, 2008.
↑ G.K. Chesterton, "The Uses of Diversity," The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton (Ignatius Press, 1991, ISBN 0898703743).

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

Hood, Jack. Workers Compensation and Employee Protection Laws in a Nutshell, West, 2004. ISBN 031415311X
Sall, Richard. Strategies in Workers' Compensation, Hamilton Books, 2004. ISBN 0761827714
———. Behind the Union Curtain: The Battle between Union Workers and Company Doctors. BookSurge Publishing, 2007. ISBN 1419634054
Valente, John. Understanding Workers' Compensation: Managing Workplace Injuries and Lowering Costs. Trafford Publishing, 2006. ISBN 1412073383

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History of "Workers' compensation"

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[1] Workers' Compensation History American Association of State Compensation Insurance Funds. Retrieved February 13, 2008.

[2] Centesimus Anus The Vatican. Retrieved February 13, 2008.

[3] G.K. Chesterton, "The Uses of Diversity," The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton (Ignatius Press, 1991, ISBN 0898703743).

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{Claimed}}{{Started}}
+{{Copyedited}}{{Images OK}}{{Submitted}}{{Approved}}{{Paid}}
 [[Category:Politics and social sciences]]
 [[Category:Social work]]
 [[Category:Economics]]
+'''Workers' compensation''' provides [[insurance]] to cover medical care and compensation for employees who are injured in the course of employment, in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue their employer for the [[tort]] of negligence. Employees' compensation laws were first enacted in [[Europe]] and [[Oceania]], with the [[United States]] following shortly thereafter. Workers' compensation programs were a key component of the labor structure of the former [[Soviet Union]] and similar societies.
+{{toc}}
+The intent of workers' compensation is to ensure that all members in the society who put in legitimate time at work, but are injured during the performance of that work, are compensated at a rate that allows them to live within that society with adequate food, housing, clothes, and such essentials. The emergence of workers' compensation reflects the increasing consciousness of the need to care for all members of society, as many [[human rights]] issues became prominent. This century marks the age in which the rights of all individuals began to be recognized in cultures around the world, a significant step in the establishment of a world of peace and harmony.
-{{Cleanup|date=July 2006}}
+==Definition and purpose==
-{{citations missing|article|date=August 2007}}
+Workers' compensation is payment made to an employee by an employer who is injured or disabled in the course of work. This insurance exists to provide some source of income to the families of disabled workers so as to ward off [[poverty]] and allow them to maintain a reasonable [[standard of living]]. Workers' compensation is particularly important in cases in which the injury is due to the employer's fault such as maintaining an unsafe work environment.
-'''Workers' compensation''' (colloquially known as '''workers' comp''' in [[North American English]] or '''compo''' in [[Australian English]]) provides [[insurance]] to cover medical care and compensation for employees who are injured in the course of employment, in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue their employer for the [[tort]] of negligence.  The tradeoff between assured, limited coverage and lack of recourse outside the worker compensation system is known as "the compensation bargain."  While schemes differ between jurisdictions, [[provision]] can be made for weekly payments in place of wages (functioning in this case as a form of [[disability insurance]]), compensation for economic loss (past and future), reimbursement or payment of medical and like expenses (functioning in this case as a form of [[health insurance]]), and benefits payable to the dependents of workers killed during employment (functioning in this case as a form of [[life insurance]]).  General damages for [[pain and suffering]], and [[punitive damages]] for employer [[negligence]], are generally not available in worker compensation plans.  Cash benefits are established by state formulas with maximum benefit level.  The benefits are administered on a state level, primarily by the state department of labor.
+==History==
+Workers' compensation developed during the [[Industrial Revolution]]. During this period the shift from traditional methods of productivity to the use of machinery led to an increased rate of injury for workers. Initially workers could only sue their employees through the [[court]]s or subject themselves to [[welfare]].
-These laws are usually a feature of highly developed [[industrialisation|industrial]] societies, implemented after long and hard fought struggles by [[trade union]]s. Supporters of such schemes believe they improve working conditions and provide an economic safety net for employees. Conversely, these schemes are often criticised for removing or restricting workers' common law rights (such as suit in tort for negligence) in order to reduce governments' or insurance companies' financial liability.
-Employees' compensation laws were first enacted in [[Europe]] and [[Oceania]], with the [[United States]] following shortly thereafter. Workers' compensation programs were a key component of the labor structure of the former [[Soviet Union]] and similar societies.
-==Compensation prior to statutory law==
-Prior to the statutory scheme of the workers' compensation, employees who were injured on the job were only able to pursue their employer through [[civil]] or [[tort]]s law. In the United Kingdom, the legal view of employment as a [[Master (form of address)|master]]-[[servant (domestic)|servant]] relationship required employees to prove employer malice or negligence, a high burden for employees to meet. Although employers' liability was unlimited, courts usually ruled in favor of employers, paying little attention to the full losses experienced by workers, including medical costs, lost wages, and loss of future earning capacity.
-==Statutory compensation law==
-Statutory compensation law provides advantages to both employees and employers. A schedule is drawn out to state the amount and forms of compensation an employee is entitled to, if he/she has sustained the stipulated kinds of injuries. Employers can buy insurance against such occurrences. However, the specific form of the statutory compensation scheme may provide detriments. Statutory schemes often award a set amount based on the types of injury. These payments are based on the ability of the worker to find employment in a partial capacity: a worker who has lost an arm can still find work as a proportion of a fully-able person. This does not account for the difficulty in finding work suiting [[disability]]. When employers are required to put injured staff on "light-duties" the employer may simply state that no light duty work exists, and sack the worker as unable to fulfill specified duties. When new forms of workplace injury are discovered, for instance: stress, [[repetitive strain injury]], [[silicosis]]; the law often lags behind actual injury and offers no suitable compensation, forcing the employer and employee back to the courts (although in common-law jurisdictions these are usually one-off instances). Finally, caps on the value of disabilities may not reflect the total cost of providing for a disabled worker. The government may legislate the value of total spinal incapacity at far below the amount required to keep a worker in reasonable living conditions for the remainder of his life.
-A related issue is that the same physical loss can have a markedly different impact on the earning capacity of individuals in different professions.  For instance, the loss of a finger could have a moderate impact on a banker's ability to do his or her job, but the same injury would totally ruin a pianist.
-===Statutory compensation in Australia===
-As Australia experienced a relatively influential [[Australian labour movement|labour movement]] in the late 19th and early 20th century, statutory compensation was implemented very early in Australia.
-===Statutory compensation in Canada===
+The first workers' compensation laws arose in Europe in the late 1800s and later spread to the [[United States]] and [[Canada]]. These laws guaranteed prompt and fair restitution to injured employees and protected employers from expensive, protracted legal battles as workers were prohibited from filing suit after accepting workers' compensation.<ref>[http://www.aascif.org/public/1.1.1_history.htm Workers' Compensation History] American Association of State Compensation Insurance Funds. Retrieved February 13, 2008.</ref>
-Workers' compensation was [[Canada]]'s first social program to be introduced as it was favoured by both workers' groups and employers hoping to avoid lawsuits. The system arose after an inquiry by Ontario Chief Justice [[William Meredith]] who outlined a system that workers should be compensated for workplace injuries, but that they must give up their right to sue their employers. It was introduced in the various provinces at different dates Ontario was first in 1915, Manitoba in 1916, British Columbia in 1917. It remains a provincial responsibility and thus the exact rules vary from province to province. In some provinces, such as Ontario's [[Workplace Safety and Insurance Board]], the programme also had a preventative role ensuring workplace safety. In British Columbia, the occupational health and safety mandate is legislated. In most provinces it remains solely concerned with insurance. It is paid by employers based on their payroll, industry sector and history of injuries (or lack thereof) in their workplace, sometimes known as "injury experience."
-===Statutory compensation in the United States===
+==Forms==
+Workers' compensation can take a number of different forms. [[Provision]] can be made for weekly payments in place of wages (functioning in this case as a form of [[disability insurance]]), compensation for economic loss (past and future), reimbursement or payment of medical and like expenses (functioning in this case as a form of [[health insurance]]), and benefits payable to the dependents of workers killed during employment (functioning in this case as a form of [[life insurance]]). General damages for [[pain and suffering]], and [[punitive damages]] for employer [[negligence]], are generally not available in workers' compensation plans. Cash benefits are established by state formulas with maximum benefit level. The benefits are administered on a state level, primarily by the state department of labor.
-Workers' compensation laws were enacted to reduce the need for [[litigation]], as well as the need for injured workers to prove that the injuries were the employer's "fault." The first [[U.S. state|state]] law was passed in Maryland in 1902, and the first law covering federal employees was passed in 1906. By 1949, all states had enacted some kind of workers' compensation regime.
+These laws are usually a feature of highly developed [[industrialization|industrial]] societies, implemented after long and hard fought struggles by [[trade union]]s. Supporters of such schemes believe they improve working conditions and provide an economic safety net for employees. Conversely, these schemes are often criticized for removing or restricting workers' common law rights (such as suit in tort for negligence) in order to reduce governments' or insurance companies' financial liability.
-This system was originally known as "workman's compensation."  Today, most jurisdictions have adopted the term "workers' compensation" as a gender-neutral alternative.
+===Statutory compensation law===
+Statutory compensation law provides advantages to both employees and employers. A schedule is drawn out to state the amount and forms of compensation an employee is entitled to, if he or she has sustained the stipulated kinds of injuries. Employers can buy insurance against such occurrences. However, the specific form of the statutory compensation scheme may provide detriments. Statutory schemes often award a set amount based on the types of injury. These payments are based on the ability of the worker to find employment in a partial capacity: a worker who has lost an arm can still find work as a proportion of a fully-able person. This does not account for the difficulty in finding work suiting [[disability]]. When employers are required to put injured staff on "light-duties" the employer may simply state that no light duty work exists, and sack the worker as unable to fulfill specified duties. When new forms of workplace injury are discovered, for instance: stress, [[repetitive strain injury]], [[silicosis]]; the law often lags behind actual injury and offers no suitable compensation, forcing the employer and employee back to the courts (although in [[common law]] jurisdictions these are usually one-off instances). Finally, caps on the value of disabilities may not reflect the total cost of providing for a disabled worker. The government may legislate the value of total spinal incapacity at far below the amount required to keep a worker in reasonable living conditions for the remainder of his life.
-In the [[United States]] most employees who are injured on the job have an absolute right to medical care for that injury, and in many cases, monetary payments to compensate for resulting temporary or permanent disabilities.
+A related issue is that the same physical loss can have a markedly different impact on the earning capacity of individuals in different professions. For instance, the loss of a finger could have a moderate impact on a banker's ability to do his or her job, but the same injury would totally ruin a pianist.
-Most employers are required to subscribe to insurance for workers' compensation, and an employer who does not may have financial penalties imposed. In many states, there are public uninsured employer funds to pay benefits to workers employed by companies who illegally fail to purchase insurance. Insurance policies are available to employers through commercial insurance companies: if the employer is deemed an excessive risk to insure at market rates, it can obtain coverage through an assigned-risk program.
+===Compensation prior to statutory law===
+Prior to the statutory scheme of the workers' compensation, employees who were injured on the job were only able to pursue their employer through [[civil law|civil]] or [[tort]]s law. In the [[United Kingdom]], the legal view of employment as a [[Master (form of address)|master]]-[[servant (domestic)|servant]] relationship required employees to prove employer malice or negligence, a high burden for employees to meet. Although employers' liability was unlimited, courts usually ruled in favor of employers, paying little attention to the full losses experienced by workers, including medical costs, lost wages, and loss of future earning capacity.
-In the vast majority of states, workers' compensation is solely provided by private insurance companies.  12 states operate a state fund (which serves as a model to private insurers and insures state employees), and a handful have state-owned monopolies.  To keep the state funds from crowding out private insurers, they are generally required to act as assigned-risk programs or insurers of last resort, and they can only write workers' compensation policies.  In contrast, private insurers can turn away the worst risks and can write comprehensive insurance packages covering general liability, natural disasters, and so on.  The largest state fund is [[California]]'s [[State Compensation Insurance Fund]].  The federal government pays its workers' compensation obligations for its own employees through regular appropriations.
+==Opposition to statutory compensation==
+Opponents argue that workers' compensation laws may hurt the workers they were designed to help. Large employers may have an incentive to move segments of their business—and their jobs—to areas where workers' compensation benefits (and other employee protections) are less generous or are harder to obtain. These many areas lack a unified and national set of employee entitlements covering [[minimum wage]], [[wage and hour]], or [[collective bargaining]] rights in addition to compensation. [[Labor union]]s describe this system as a [[race to the bottom]], as state legislatures cut employee entitlements to attract [[capital]]. Moreover, applying laws to citizens (or organizations) abroad, is an exception rather than the rule under common law.
-It is illegal in some states (although not in others) for an employer to terminate an employee for reporting a workplace injury or for filing a workers' compensation claim. Most states also prohibit refusing employment for having previously filed a workers' compensation claim. However, employers can consult commercial databases of claims data and it would seem nearly impossible to prove that an employer discriminated against a job applicant because of his or her claims history. To abate discrimination of this type, some states have created a "subsequent injury trust fund" which will reimburse insurers for benefits paid to workers who suffer aggravation or recurrence of a compensable injury. It is also suggested that laws should be made to prohibit inclusion of claims history in databases or to make it anonymous. (See [[privacy laws]].)
-It is also illegal to falsely claim workers' compensation benefits. Employers at times hire [[private investigator]]s to videotape claimants surreptitiously. Some of the  [[sub rosa]] videos have shown employees engaging in sports or other strenuous physical activities despite allegedly having suffered disability or injury. TV shows have recently been made using these videos {{Fact|date=August 2007}}. Such evidence may not be admissible in law courts if it has been found to be taken unlawfully.
-Some employers vigorously contest employee claims for workers' compensation payments. In any contested case, or in any case involving serious injury, a [[lawyer]] with specific experience in handling workers' compensation claims on behalf of injured workers should be consulted. Laws in many states limit a claimant's legal expenses to a certain fraction of an award; such "contingency fees" are payable only if the recovery is successful. In some states this fee can be as high as 40% or as little as 11% of the monetary award recovered, if any.  If no award is recovered, the attorney will be paid nothing and loses the time and money he or she put into the case, thereby having essentially worked for free.
-In the vast majority of states, [[original jurisdiction]] over workers' compensation disputes has been transferred by statute from the [[trial court]]s to special administrative agencies.  Within such agencies, disputes are usually handled informally by [[administrative law judge]]s.  Appeals may be taken to an appeals board and from there into the [[state court]] system.  However, such appeals are difficult and are regarded skeptically by most state appellate courts, because the point of workers' compensation was to reduce litigation.  A few states still allow the employee to initiate a lawsuit in a trial court against the employer.
-====Alternate forms of statutory compensation in the United States====
-Employees of common carriers by rail have a statutory remedy under the Federal Employers' Liability Act, 45 U.S.C. sec. 51, which provides that a carrier "shall be liable" to an employee who is injured by the negligence of the employer. To enforce his compensation rights, the employee may file suit in [[United States district court]] or in a [[state court]]. The FELA remedy is based on tort principles of ordinary negligence and differs significantly from most state workers' compensation benefit schedules.
-Seafarers employed on United States vessels who are injured because of the owner's or the operator's negligence can sue their employers under the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C. App. 688., essentially a remedy very similar to the FELA one.
-====Opposition to statutory compensation in the United States====
-Opponents argue that workers' compensation laws may hurt the U.S. workers they were designed to help {{Fact|date=August 2007}}. Large employers may have an incentive to move segments of their business—and their jobs—to areas where workers' compensation benefits (and other employee protections) are less generous or are harder to obtain. This is because the United States lacks a unified and national set of employee entitlements covering [[minimum wage]], [[wage and hour]], or [[collective bargaining]] rights in addition to compensation. [[trade union|Labor union]]s describe this system as a [[race to the bottom]], as state legislatures cut employee entitlements to attract [[capital]]. Moreover, applying laws to citizens (or organisations) abroad, is an exception rather than the rule under common law.
-United States employers can also move some operations to other countries where employee entitlements are much lower than in the U.S., and where there may be no workers' compensation or other legal remedies at all for workers who are injured or who are exposed to hazardous substances while on the job. Such countries may also have weaker or no legal protections available for employees in areas such as job [[discrimination]], [[social security]], or the right to organize or to join a [[trade union]].
-Some [[small business]] owners complain that the cost of workers’ compensation, which they pay in the form of insurance premiums, places a heavy burden on them.
-Economists who favor the [[distributism]] system of economics cite workers' compensation as an example of how far the modern capitalist economic system approaches what they call the "servile state" or "slavery worker" system. They say that in past times, when ownership of the means of production were more widely distributed, it would not be natural to hold an employer responsible for a worker's injury, since the worker was freely choosing to work for that employer. Distributists assert that in modern times, with the vast majority of people dispossessed of the means of production, requiring employers to have workers compensation shows how much workers really are dependent on being employed and are essentially forced to work for someone else to survive. Some distributists who feel that capitalism is heading unstoppably in the direction of a [[slavery]] system, feel that this will come about by workers exchanging their personal freedom for economic benefits like workers' compensation.
-==History==
-Workers' Compensation in the U.S. began in 1911 during the [[Progressive Era]] when [[Wisconsin]] passed the first statutory system. Other U.S. jurisdictions followed suit. In general, statutory Workers' Compensation systems strike a compromise, guaranteeing workers medical care and payment for lost time on a no-fault basis. Prior to the enactment of Workers' Compensation laws, injured workers had to file suit against employers (usually for the tort of negligence), and such legal actions had significant drawbacks for workers. At the same time, a successful suit could impose very large and unpredictable costs on an employer. Statutory Workers' Compensation systems provide for prompt payment of medical, rehabilitation, and lost time costs to injured workers, while placing limits on the cost of the system for employers.  This trade-off became known as the "workers' compensation bargain"; that is, the worker traded his/her right to bring a tort suit against their employer in exchange for prompt medical care and disability payments (indeminity payments). Thus workers compensation is the original "Tort Reform."
-In many states today, Workers' Compensation represents a major cost of business for employers, and there is ongoing political maneuvering by both business and labor groups to shift the compromise balance struck by Workers' Compensation statutes (for an example see California's Senate Bill (SB) 899). In general, business groups seek to limit the cost of Workers' Compensation coverage, while labor groups seek to increase benefits paid to workers.
+Employers in the developed world can also move some operations to other countries where employee entitlements are much lower, and where there may be no workers' compensation or other legal remedies at all for workers who are injured or who are exposed to hazardous substances while on the job. Such countries may also have weaker or no legal protections available for employees in areas such as job [[discrimination]], [[social security]], or the right to organize or to join a [[trade union]].
-For the commercial insurance market, Workers' Compensation represents a major line of business, although one that is sometimes problematic for the insurance industry.  Premiums are large, but many insurers find it difficult to turn a profit in many states, as benefit costs sometimes exceed premiums.  This line of insurance is regulated fairly closely by most states, although in recent years many states have allowed insurance companies greater flexibility in pricing this line of coverage.  The hope has been that by encouraging price competition among insurers for Workers' Compensation insurance, employers would benefit by being able to obtain lower overall premiums.  However, the introduction of competitive pricing for Workers' Compensation insurance has also led to significant swings in cost, as the insurance market moves between 'hard' and 'soft' markets.  Employers often benefit from lower premiums in 'soft' insurance markets, only to see their premiums increase exponentially during 'hard' insurance markets.
+Some small [[business]] owners complain that the cost of workers’ compensation, which they pay in the form of insurance premiums, places a heavy burden on them.
-Injured Workers sometimes complain that insurance companies do not treat them fairly or in compliance with the law, while employers often complain about their costs of insurance being driven up by exaggerated or fraudulent claims.  Thus, the field engenders a considerable amount of controversy and litigation.  These disputed areas include both claims and premium computations.
+Those in favor of distributism, or the idea that ownership should be spread widely among members of a society, criticize workers' compensation for what it represents. Distributists believe that workers, in fact most people in a society, should have some ownership over their employment and the means of production. As such, workers should have a stake in their place of employment's success. As a result, those workers injured on the job would not necessarily need a new stream of income to replace their lost wages as they would in fact already be profiting from the business as a part owner. Distributists see workers' compensation as emblematic of the disconnect between workers and ownership that they believe should not exist.<ref>[http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_01051991_centesimus-annus_en.html Centesimus Anus] The Vatican. Retrieved February 13, 2008.</ref><ref>G.K. Chesterton, "The Uses of Diversity," ''The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton'' (Ignatius Press, 1991, ISBN 0898703743).</ref>
-The statute of limitations for filing a compensation claim for an accidental injury varies from state to state.
+==Notes==
+<references/>
+==References==
+* Hood, Jack. ''Workers Compensation and Employee Protection Laws in a Nutshell,'' West, 2004. ISBN 031415311X
+* Sall, Richard. ''Strategies in Workers' Compensation'', Hamilton Books, 2004. ISBN 0761827714
+*———. ''Behind the Union Curtain: The Battle between Union Workers and Company Doctors''. BookSurge Publishing, 2007. ISBN 1419634054
+* Valente, John. ''Understanding Workers' Compensation: Managing Workplace Injuries and Lowering Costs''. Trafford Publishing, 2006. ISBN 1412073383
-==External links==
-* [http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/fishback.workers.compensation History of Workers' Compensation in the U.S. by Price Fishback, University of Arizona]
-* [http://www.comp.state.nc.us/ncic/pages/all50.htm All 50 States' and D.C.'s Home Page and Workers'
-* [http://www.awcbc.org Association of Workers' Compensation Boards of Canada]
-* {{dmoz |Society/Law/Legal_Information/Workers%27_Compensation/ |Workers' Compensation}}
 {{Credits|Workers'_compensation|160858090|}}