Summary
The case for integration of workers’ compensation with other programs includes several arguments why there is no reason to treat occupational injuries or diseases, or deaths differently than corresponding non-work-related incidents. The cause of the incident does not affect the impact on the worker. The determination of whether the incident is work-related or not consumes considerable resources, including attorneys’ and doctors’ fees, is often based on unscientific legal rules, and in many cases is arbitrary. Moreover, the safety effects of treating workplace conditions in a separate program are overrated.
The case against integration of workers’ compensation and other programs includes several arguments why work-related injuries or diseases should be treated differently. Many industries essential to the community are especially dangerous and attracting workers to these jobs requires special protection against the risks. Moreover, workers disabled at work are operating under the orders of their employers. In addition, it is unlikely that society would grant the range of benefits avail to injured workers, such as permanent partial disability (PPD) benefits, to every person in the US “who has an automobile accident or slips in the bathtub.” And the high costs of PPD benefits make it unlikely that the OASDHI system could afford to merge with workers’ compensation.
The chapter discusses at length proposals for integrating workers’ compensation with other public programs. The New Zealand proposal provides a unified and comprehensive scheme of accident prevention, rehabilitation, and compensation. The plan would cover occupational diseases but not diseases from other causes. A revised and expanded OASDHI program would combine comprehensive accident insurance protection with illness, death, old-age insurance, plus perhaps unemployment insurance.
To supplement the benefits provided to disabled workers under this proposal, workers would be given the right to sue negligent employers.
The chapter also includes a brief discussion of the Netherlands disability system, which separates long-term disability benefits from short-term disability benefits. The Netherland system relies on a separate program to provide medical benefits to all disabled workers.
The chapter includes a brief discussion of integration of workers’ compensation programs with private programs that would eliminate the distinction between work-related and non-work-related causes for medical care.
The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of two proposals that would reform workers’ compensation programs without integration with other programs. One proposal would eliminate workers’ compensation and return to the tort-based remedies relied on to deal with workplace injuries and diseases until the early 20th century. The other proposal is to enact a series of ad hoc Federal laws to deal with special problems, such as the recently enacted Black Lung Benefits Act.
Citation:
C. Arthur Williams and Peter S. Barth, “Integration of Workmen’s Compensation and Other Programs,” Chapter 19 in Compendium on Workmen’s Compensation (Washington, DC: National Commission on State Workmen’s Compensation Laws, 1973.)