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HR Hot Topics |
Workers' Compensation
Workers’ compensation laws first made an appearance in this country in the early 1900s in response to concerns that employees injured at work were not being treated fairly — they had little bargaining power and seldom prevailed in court against employers, which generally had the law on their side. Indeed, an estimated 70 to 94 percent of all industrial accidents went uncompensated before workers’ comp legislation reached the United States. Related articles on Workers' Comp Legislators responded with the workers’ compensation framework — which was essentially a compromise between management and labor. Employers agreed to pay for any work-related injury or illness, without any finding that the employer was actually at fault for the injury or illness; in return, employees agreed to limits on the amount of compensation they would receive as part of a workers’ comp award (which, in some cases, meant giving up potentially large damage awards). Every state now has a workers’ compensation statute. Though there are certainly variations from one statute to another, as well as differences in how each state administers its statute, the basic principles behind each state law are pretty much the same. If you’re a private or public employer, you generally will be subject to the workers’ comp law of your state if you have a minimum number of employees — in most states, that number is one; but in a handful, you must have more than one employee (as few as three in some and as many as five in others). Most states limit the protection of their workers’ comp laws to employees with injuries or illnesses that occur during the course of, and arise out of, their employment. The “during the course of ” prong generally relates to the time, location, and circumstances of the incident that lead to the injury or illness, while the “arising out of ” prong has to do with the underlying cause of the injury or illness. Some of the issues that make workers' comp a challenge include how the workers' comp laws may interact with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and their state equivalents when a worker has a work-related injury or illness. It's also important to find out who is responsible for work-related injuries for any nontraditional workers you have, such as temps. In counting employees to determine whether the ADA, FMLA, or your state’s workers’ comp law applies to you, be sure you consider any “joint employer” or other rules that may require you to include nontraditional workers in your count. Generally, the ADA, FMLA, and workers’ compensation laws don't protect independent contractors. But a worker isn’t an independent contractor just because you say she is. Be sure you know when it’s okay to classify a worker as an independent contractor and when it’s not.
Related articles on Workers Comp from the State Employment Law Letters
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