Workers' Compensation programs and laws, formerly known as Workman's Compensation, exist in all U.S. states to protect employees who are injured while on the job. 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.
There are often benefits available to dependents of workers killed on the job.
Workers' Compensation laws were enacted in the U.S. during the 1920s. Prior to this, employees that were injured on the job had no other recourse than to file a civil lawsuit to recover their medical costs, lost wages, and damages for loss of future earning capacity. In many cases, they had to prove the employer was negligent. Employers also faced uncertain liability and, in some cases, meritless claims by employees. Workers' Compensation laws were enacted to mitigate these costs for both sides and to eliminate the need for injured workers to prove their injuries were the employer's "fault."
Opponents point out that Workers' Compensation laws, like other pro-labor laws such as those establishing employees' minimum wage, wage and hour or collective bargaining rights, may negatively impact the U.S. workers they were designed to help. Large employers may have an incentive to move segments of their business -- and their jobs -- to states where workers' compensation benefits (and other employee protections) are less generous or are harder to obtain.
Those U.S. states that compete with other states for employers, and jobs, on the basis of which state has the least generous employee protections and workers' compensation benefits, are said to be engaged in a race to the bottom.
Employers can also move some operations to foreign countries where wages 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 few or no legal protections available for employees in areas such as job discrimination, social security, or the right to organize or to join a 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.
Most employers are required to carry workers' compensation insurance, and in most states there are heavy financial penalties for an employer's not having insurance. In many states there are public uninsured employer funds to pay benefits to workers employed by companies who illegally fail to purchase insurance.
Some employers vigorously contest employee claims for workers' compensation payments; in any contested case, or in any case involving serious injury, an attorney with specific experience in handling workers' compensation claims on behalf of injured workers should be consulted. Many if not most state laws provide that a claimant's attorney fees are limited to a certain percentage of an award, and may be paid only from a successful recovery or award.
It is illegal for an employer to fire an employee for reporting a workplace injury or for filing a workers' compensation claim; it is illegal to not hire someone for having filed a workers' compensation claim in the past. 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 workers' compensation claims history.
It is also illegal to falsely claim workers' compensation benefits. Some employers hire private investigators to surreptitiously videotape claimants; some of these "sub rosa' videos have shown employees, who claimed to be disabled, engaging in sports or other strenuous physical activity.
