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An Overview on Workers' Compensation and Employment
Compensation Laws.
Workers' Compensation laws are designed to ensure
that employees who are injured or disabled on the job are provided
with fixed monetary awards, eliminating the need for litigation.
These laws also provide benefits for dependents of those workers
who are killed because of work-related accidents or illnesses.
Some laws also protect employers and fellow workers by limiting
the amount an injured employee can recover from an employer and
by eliminating the liability of co-workers in most accidents.
State Workers Compensation statutes establish this framework for
most employment. Federal statutes are limited to federal employees
or those workers employed in some significant aspect of interstate
commerce.
The Federal Employment Compensation Act provides
workers compensation for non-military, federal employees. Many
of its provisions are typical of most worker compensation laws.
Awards are limited to "disability or death" sustained
while in the performance of the employee's duties but not caused
willfully by the employee or by intoxication. The act covers medical
expenses due to the disability and may require the employee to
undergo job retraining. A disabled employee receives two thirds
of his or her normal monthly salary during the disability and
may receive more for permanent physical injuries, or if he or
she has dependents. The act provides compensation for survivors
of employees who are killed. The act is administered by the Office
of Workers' Compensation Programs.
The Federal Employment Liability Act (FELA), while not a workers'
compensation statute, provides that railroads engaged in interstate
commerce are liable for injuries to their employees if they have
been negligent.
The Merchant Marine Act (the Jones Act) provides seamen with
the same protection from employer negligence as FELA provides
railroad workers.
Congress enacted the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation
Act (LHWCA) to provide workers' compensation to specified employees
of private maritime employers. The Office of Workers' Compensation
Programs administers the act.
The Black Lung Benefits Act provides compensation for miners
suffering from "black lung" (pneumoconiosis). The Act
requires liable mine operators to pay disability payments and
establishes a fund administered by the Secretary of Labor providing
disability payments to miners where the mine operator is unknown
or unable to pay. The Office of Workers' Compensation Programs
regulates the administration of the act.
California's Workers' Compensation Act provides an example of
a comprehensive state compensation program. It is applicable to
most employers. The statute limits the liability of the employer
and fellow employees. California also requires employers to obtain
insurance to cover potential workers' compensation claims, and
sets up a fund for claims that employers have illegally failed
to insure against.
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