|
Back California Permanent Disability - Part 1 by Koszdin Kenton Workers' compensation systems were created in the United States in the early 20th century to provide a system of compensation for work place injury. These systems were social engineering arrangements which were meant to serve the broader purpose of providing prompt medical treatment and cash payments to prevent the worker and their family from becoming homeless and thus a charge on the public as a whole. The idea was to spread the costs of work related injuries through the greater society as part of the costs of production. In exchange, employers were given protection from civil law suit and the employee was limited to workers' compensation benefits. This arrangement is called the exclusive remedy. Today, employers and insurance companies only care about the exclusive remedy and are in the process of gutting what remains of the workers' compensation system. The most contentious element of the system has always been the method upon which permanent disability was determined. There is no easy way to determine what a blow knee, a bad back or carpal tunnel is worth. In a civil tort (personal injury) action, the damages are medical expenses, past, present, and future lost earnings, pain and suffering and in some cases punitive damages. The goal of a tort case is to fully compensate the injured person for all of his or her losses. Since workers' compensation is an alternative to tort law, the method of determining how to compensate an injured worker for permanent damage is also different. Workers' compensation systems were never designed to fully compensate the injured worker for all losses. The reason given for giving less than full compensation is that the injured worker would Author's Biography: Author Bio Kenton Koszdin is a Workers' Compensation Attorney specializing in Workers Compensation Insurance Los Angeles, Workers Compensation Claims Los Angeles, Workers Compensation Law Los Angeles. http://www.workerscomp-losangeles.com/'>http://www.workerscomp-losangeles.com/'>http://www.workerscomp-losangeles.com/'>http://www.workerscomp-losangeles.com/'>http://www.workerscomp-losangeles.com/'>http://www.workerscomp-losangeles.com/'>http://www.workerscomp-losangeles.com/'>http://www.workerscomp-losangeles.com/'>http://www.workerscomp-losangeles.com/'>http://www.workerscomp-losangeles.com/'>http://www.workerscomp-losangeles.com/'>http://www.workerscomp-losangeles.com/'>http://www.workerscomp-losangeles.com/'>http://www.workerscomp-losangeles.com/'>http://www.workerscomp-losangeles.com/'>http://www.workerscomp-losangeles.com/
|
|
Resources | Submit an Article | Suggest a Category | Terms & Conditions Add URL | Feedback | Free Content Copyright © KD & R Designs. All rights reserved. 2005 |
