Workers’ compensation: awards

In workers compensation experience rating, the actual characteristics of the individual employer are determined over a period of time, usually three years. This experience is then compared with the average as reflected by the manual rate or rates which apply to the employer s business. If the employer has lower than average costs, then a comparable rate credit is awarded, while for a higher than average experience, a debit rate is applied. 

The Federal Employment Compensation Act provides workers compensation for nonmilitary, federal employees. Many of its provisions remain typical of most workers compensation laws. Many times awards remain limited to disability or death sustained while in the performance of the employee s duties. The act covers medical expenses due to the disability and may require... 

If an injured worker wins a third party lawsuit and receives an award that is larger than that obtained through workers compensation, the worker may have to repay the compensation obtained through workers compensation. The... 

If the third party award is less than that obtained through workers compensation, the employer may only have to pay the difference between the third party award and the amount paid by workers compensation alone. All such adjustments would occur after payment of legal and other direct expenses for the suit. If the worker fails to win a third party award, there is probably no loss in workers compensation benefits. 

Third party lawsuits by injured workers are not the only means for achieving payment other than workers compensation for job-related injuries. Under certain conditions, the employer may file suit on its own behalf or that of the employee against a third party. If the suit is for the employee, any award greater than workers compensation benefits and expenses necessary to bring the suit pass to the employee. 

Joe Derek often takes work home with him to complete some of the details that he is unable to finish at the office. Although his employer has never encouraged him to work at home, he is aware of the practice and thankful that the work gets done. One evening on the way home from work, Joe is injured in an automobile accident. His employer is surprised when Joe files for and is awarded workers compensation. 

Employers need to be careful in the application of laws in particular states. Although the types of awards vary, employers are subject to workers compensation liability any time an employee is injured in the course of work. This could occur in a number of ways. In the case of an employee taking work home from the office, that employee is subjecting the employer to a possible claim while en route, as well as while working at home. Employees required to travel in the course of their jobs may also be covered by workers compensation even during their off-hours. 

D) Workers compensation claims. If a removed employee files a claim for workers compensation payments for a MDA-related disability, then the employer shall continue to provide medical removal protection benefits pending disposition of the claim. To the extent that an award is made to the employee for earnings lost during the period of removal, the employer s medical removal protection obligation shall be reduced by such amount. The employer shall receive no credit for workers compensation payments received by the employee for treatment-related expenses. 

Each jiuisdiction, as noted in an earUer chapter, has its own act and regulations covering workers compensation and rehabiUtation. Although there are mar similarities in the schemes, differences for the employer and employee be foimd in areas of compensation values awarded, insurance provisions and rehabilitation reqirirements. It is, therefore, very important that you read your own legislation and interpret it cor-rectfy, especially if you have responsibiUties tmder it. 

The Eederal Employees Compensation Act (FECA), 5 U.S.C. 8101 etseq., establishes a comprehensive and exclusive workers compensation program which pays compensation for the disability or death of a federal employee resulting from personal injury sustained while in the petformance of duty. The FECA, administered by OWCP, provides benefits for wage loss compensation for total or partial disability, schedule awards for permanent loss or loss of use of specified members of the body, related medical costs, and vocational rehabilitation. 

If the injury were serious, the worker usually lost many days from the job. Then a replacement had to be hired and trained. Meanwhile, additional work inundated the supervisor, safety manager, and personnel department as they investigated the incident, then prepared and filed the necessary reports. In some instances a hefty compensation award had to be provided. Obviously, if injuries of this sort happened too frequently, insurance costs would increase. 

What behavior improves when safety awards are based only on an injury rate If employees can link their daily activities to safety results, then celebrating reduced injury rates can be useful, even motivating. It is critical, however, to recognize the behaviors, procedures, and processes that led to fewer injuries or lower workers compensation costs. 

Even though it is difficult to quantify what the true cost of an accident really is, we can quantify the tip of the iceberg. And the tip of the iceberg for an injury-type accident is medical costs, workers compensation, and litigation and award fees. A lot of research (with conflicting conclusions) has investigated the true cost of an accident. I believe that the cost is substantial and that—like an iceberg—90 percent of the cost of an accident is hidden or indirect. 

The other defenses were contributory and comparative negligence. Contributory negligence held that if the worker contributed in any part to the risk of injury, then the employer was not at fault. This defense gave a little into what is called comparative negligence. In comparative negligence, the amount of contributory fault is determined, and it is used to determine award in compensation for the damage. Therefore, if a worker was deemed to have contributed to the risk at approximately 30%, the... 

After several families of victims sued Consolidation, the company s president asked its lead attorney whether it would not be cheaper and safer to keep a stiff upper lip and fight it out—than to do anything more than charity requires. Consolidation paid for the dead miners funeral expenses and provided compensation of 150 for each widow and 75 for every child of a dead miner under the age of 16. Since the state and federal courts of the era did not award compensation for accidents attributable to the negligence of the plaintiff or any of his fellow workers, that was essentially the end of the matter. The lawsuits were either dismissed or settled for small sums. Within two months, the mine was back in operation and the victims families were persona non grata in the company town. ... 

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