workers comp :: essays research papers

It shouldnt hurt to go to work. But in 1998, nearly 6 one million million U.S. histrions were injure at work or became sick because of their jobs.Most functional Americans know that they are protected by workers stipend laws if they are injure on the job. But many are unaware of the prominent agency played by organized labor in securing these historic judicial protections.Workers compensation laws became necessary at the turn of the century, when injured workers were faced with uprise health check costs and lost time. In those days, an injured employee had to prove that the employer was at fault, due either to an unsafe workplace, lack of safe tools, failing to admonish of dangers or failing to furnish adequate help. If the employer was not at fault, the employee accepted no compensation. Even if the employer was at fault, the injured worker still could not recover if he was partly to blame, or if he knew of the risks beforehand, or if the disfigurement was caused by a fe llow servant. In most cases, injured workers true no compensation at all. Employees and their families faced financial ruin. And if a worker happened to overcome the legal obstacles and received money damages, the employer might be set apart out of care, costing other employees their jobs. To remedy this unfairness, Labor struggled for the passage of workers compensation laws. Labor argued that an employer could pay for work injuries by merely raising the legal injury of its product or service by a few pennies to get workers compensation insurance. In contrast, an employee bearing the cost of his own injury could gravel destitute. Labors battle cry was, "the cost of the product should bear the blood of the worker."The authentic model for workers compensation legislation was a compromise between business and labor. Employees gave up their right to sue for large jury awards in flip-flop for more modest but certain compensation for lost time, medical bills and permanenc y. Employers gave up their cozy system of fault-based liability in exchange for a no-fault system, but with limits on the amount of money they would have to pay their injured employees.Early workers compensation laws covered only hazardous industries, such as construction, demolition and mining.