Introduction
Modern definition of workers’ compensation is simply a program providing payments, without regard to a finding of negligence of either party, to workers involved in specific job-related injuries. These laws were enacted so that the employee would not have to go through a long and arduous lawsuit and possibly not recover due to the employer's advantageous financial standing. Payments are usually exempt from taxation.
History
The concept of compensation to workers in its rudimentary forms can be traced back to the common law principles of tortious liability arising out of employer’s negligence. The law seeks to infer a civil wrong; or damage, injury or a wrongful act or omission, whether willfully or negligently or in circumstances involving liability not arising out of a contractual obligation and gives rise to claim for damages, as tort.
Torts include injuries to persons, such as injuries caused by negligent automobile accidents, medical malpractice, or product defects; injuries to property, such as nuisances and trespasses; and injuries to reputation. Courts allow recovery when a defendant breaches a legal duty to a plaintiff and this breach proximately causes an injury recognized under the law.
Tort can be classified into three, namely –
1. Deliberate or intentional: Acts of assault[1], battery[2], defamation[3], false imprisonment, invasion of privacy, etc.
2. Negligence: Failure to apply reasonable care expected to be exercised by a person of ordinary prudence to avoid injury or hurt to third party or damage to property of third party.
3. Strict liability: The third category includes liability for certain unusual hazardous activities and certain kinds of products liability.
In the subject under discussion, we are concerned only about the second classification, namely negligence. However, the traditional rule of contributory negligence whereby the plaintiff may fail in action claiming damages if it is proved that there was negligence on his own part as well notwithstanding the proportion of such negligence and other practical difficulties faced by affected employees in succeeding compensation claims against employers due to common law defences such as assumption of risk (common knowledge about existence of an ordinary employment hazard) or fellow-worker rule (blaming fellow workers for the negligence), led many industrialised countries to bring about legislations paving the way for workers facing accidental injuries or death to claim compensation from employers as a statutory right rather than through a tortious claim. Historically, Germany is said to have legislated a statute in 1884 known as Sickness and Accident laws followed by countries like the United Kingdom (1897) and the United States (1907).
The compensation paid to workers to restore their ability to work (or as nearly as possible to his or her condition prior to accident causing such injury) following work-related accident causing injury or statutory compensation payable to eligible family members in the event of any accidental death of the worker, during the course of discharging the worker’s job responsibilities, is called worker’s compensation. The concept of compensation arises out of vicarious liability of the employer for negligence and includes reimbursement of all out-of-pocket expenses such as expenses incurred for medical treatment, conveyance to and from the hospital, etc., payment for lost wages and even damages for pain and suffering, or in case of death of the worker, the statutory compensation payable to eligible family members. The insurance to indemnify the employer against such liability is Worker’s compensation insurance also referred to as Workmen’s compensation insurance.
A study by the American Insurance Association almost two decades ago has revealed the statutory existence of Workmen’s compensation law in more than 120 countries. In this article, I am confining to workmen’s compensation insurance principles and practice followed in the United Arab Emirates and India.
[1] An act or an instance of unlawfully threatening or attempting to injure another person.
[2] The unlawful and unwanted touching or striking of one person by another, with the intention of bringing about a harmful or offensive contact.
[3] Any intentional false communication, either written or spoken, that harms a person's reputation
Comments
Write New Comment ▼
Write New Comment
Sorry! This knol's owner(s) have blocked you from editing, making suggestions, or commenting here.