What Did We Do Before Worker’s Compensation?
Worker’s compensation was established in all 50 states by 1948. The system is actually based on a German system started by Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck. He introduced a state run accident compensation system back in 1884.
The version we have here in the U.S. is the oldest social insurance program in the United States. It was created to compensate for the increasing amount of workers that were injured on the job.
Before Worker’s Compensation, the only resource for an injured worker was to hire a lawyer and prove negligence on the part of an employer. Most workers didn’t have the means to hire an attorney and those that did found themselves buried in the long judicial process. This led to a large number of unemployed, injured workers in the U.S.
Tags: injured on the job, job injury, work-related injury, workers' comp, workers' compensation
