The workers compensation system was one of the triumphs of the industrial age. The system is the cumulative result of years of strife and compromise between employer/owners and employee/labor. The struggle toward this useful social compromise began in the 1870s with the organized labor movement and came to fruition in 1911 with the passage of the first state workers compensation law in Wisconsin.

In the workers compensation system, injured employees relinquish the right to sue their employers for employment-related injuries in return for a statutorily imposed mechanism that provides specific scheduled benefits. These benefits are funded, for the most part, through insurance policies that employers purchase from insurance companies. Indeed, in most states, employers must insure their workers compensation exposure or become qualified self-insurers. Employers should not simply decide to operate without insurance. If they do, they risk being fined—and still have to pay the benefits that are set by law when an employee is injured on the job.

There are many aspects to consider: how to calculate premium; how experience rating and modifiers work; and various financial plans and considerations. The standard workers compensation insurance policy is published by the National Council on Compensation Insurance, and is available for use in more than 30 states, plus the District of Columbia. The remaining states use similar forms are approved and published by their respective workers compensation rating bureaus.

There is perhaps no other type of insurance that uniformly affects the American population as much as workers compensation. Human resource professionals, who often are charged with managing a program that a financial officer negotiated, need to be well versed on premium, experience rating, financial plans and cost management.

Recognizing that state workers compensation systems were not adequate to protect all workers; for example, laborers working on waterways and on federal lands, the federal government enacted legislation such as the Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act, the Jones Act, and other legislation protecting federal workers or workers on federal lands.

Workers compensation is much more than an insurance policy. It is a system in the truest sense of the word; its cost is a basic cost of doing business. Because of this, the financial aspect of a company's workers compensation program often takes on a life of its own, outside the issues of coverage.

Instant Insights /

HR perspectives: A great social compromise

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