Until the early part of the 20th century, workers had little recourse in the event that they were to become the victim of a workplace accident. But the new processes and machines that were incorporated into many jobs with the spread of industrialization created a sufficient increase in the level of occupational danger to warrant the attention of legislators. In response to the growing problem, laws were enacted to grant workers access to financial benefits that their employers would be obligated to provide, free of any considerations about liability. In some ways, it was a tremendous victory, and in others it was less so.
One notable drawback was that it effectively absolved employers from liability commensurate with the severity of the injury and it also shielded them from legal action except in particularly egregious cases. As a consequence, workers are supposed to expect a swift and largely uncontested processing of their claim, but the value of the benefits that they might gain is capped by statute and still guarantees that they will be at an overall financial loss. This seemed to be an acceptable tradeoff for the removal of fault as a consideration, but in the implementation of workers' compensation insurance the pursuit is rarely as easy as supposedly intended.
Conflicting Interests
When you have been hurt on the job, either in an accident or due to the ongoing physical toll that the labor has taken on your body, the first step must be to inform your employer. Then, however, the situation begins to grow more complicated. The two parties who will have a direct role in assessing the validity of your claim from that point onward will be your employer and the insurance company that has issued your employer's workmen's compensation policy.
Both of these parties have significant incentives to identify any conceivable reason to deny your claim. The insurance company's entire revenue system is based on taking in the maximum amount in premium payments and issuing a comparatively small number of benefit payouts. Your employer might be subject to higher insurance rates with too many claims, so the deck is stacked against you from the start. Some obstacles to a successful workmen's compensation claim include:
- Failure to meet reporting and filing deadlines
- Improper completion of required paperwork
- Fraudulent conduct on the part of your employer or the workers' compensation insurance company
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