LawInfo

WORKERS COMPENSATION LAW OVERVIEW

Workers' compensation law deals specifically with workers who have been injured while at work. Workers' compensation law was created as an alternative to general personal injury law, and was meant to make it easier for injured workers to be compensated for injuries they received while working. It was often difficult for a worker who had been injured and unable to work because of their injury to collect in a personal injury action, because there was often nobody negligent or at fault for a worker's injury. Workers' compensation law also shields employers from lawsuits by injured employees. Additionally, workers' compensation law affects family members of workers who have been injured or killed. The following are some of the more common legal issues that arise in workers' compensation law:

• Whether a certain employer is required to carry workers' compensation insurance.
• Enforcement of penalties for workers' compensation violations, such as employers failing to notify workers' compensation insurance carriers about an employee's injury, employers threatening to fire employees who file workers' compensation claims, employers failing to carry workers' compensation insurance, or employees lying about injuries to get compensation without having to work.
• Whether an employee's injury or illness was in fact caused as a result of that employee performing the duties of his or her job.
• Whether an employee's injury does in fact prevent that employee from working, either permanently or temporarily.
• How much compensation an employee is entitled to and for how long.

There are many other issues, both relatively simple and complex, that can arise in workers' compensation law. Both workers and employers have rights under workers' compensation laws, and both are benefited by them. However, both workers and employers may have certain rights limited by workers' compensation laws.

RELEVANT LAW

For the most part, workers' compensation law is derived from legislatively created statutes in each state. These statutes are present within the civil code of each state. Federal laws only affect workers' compensation law for specific groups of workers, such as the Energy Employees Occupation Illness Compensation Program, the Federal Employee's Compensation Program, the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Program, and the Black Lung Benefits Program. Federal workers' compensation laws and programs are administered by the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs.