Workers' Compensation in America, a state managed system for providing benefits to individuals and families victimized by industrial accidents, has two major purposes (Schwartz). The first intention is to provide insurance to guarantee that a worker injured or made sick on the job will receive full medical, surgical and hospital treatments as well as recurring periodic payments to replace lost wages, or permanent disability benefits if an employee cannot return to work. The second purpose is to guarantee to employers, mandated by law to purchase workers' compensation insurance or to provide self-insurance, that the covered worker will be barred from suing the employer for on-the-job injuries or illnesses unless the employer intentionally caused them. Because each state has its own Workers' Compensation laws, benefits vary from state to state (Review guide for the CRC examination: Workers Compensation).

Worker's Compensation was a response to frequent injuries and deaths caused by the industrial revolution of the late 19th and early 20 centuries. The philosophy that drove workers' compensation was that: "(1) industrial activity benefits everyone in society, (2) some degree of misfortune will occur in any human activity, and (3) because everyone benefits from industrial activity ... society should bear the burden of any misfortunes." (Review guide for the CRC examination: Workers Compensation). Thus, according to this review guide, worker's compensation emerged to treat industrial accidents as predictable costs shared by all consumers regardless of fault. It replaced a failed legal system where employers had once successfully defended themselves against workers' law suits using various common law defenses that made them virtually immune from legal responsibility. The first successful state law was passed by Wisconsin in 1911, giving employers the choice of participating in workers' compensation or not, but if they chose not to participate they were denied the use of common law defenses in law suites (Review guide for the CRC examination: Workers Compensation).

Bibliography

Review guide for the CRC examination: Workers Compensation. http://luna.cas.usf.edu/~rasch/wcomp.html

Schwartz, M.W. Defining the purpose of worker's compensation. http://www.helium.com/items/16281-defining-the-purpose-of-workers-compensation