Workers compensation was not created to respond to workers demands but to provide monetary benefits, rehabilitation services and medical care to injured workers. In Massachusetts this type of compensation was started in 1911. The brains behind workers' compensation were the National Civic Federation and other business-supported groups, which were trying desperately to deter workers and their families from suing after fires, explosions and other workplace disasters. The American Federation of Labor offered only lukewarm support.
The compensation system can be described as a trade. For a limited number of weeks persons disabled by job injuries are guaranteed a portion of their pay. In exchange, workers and their families lose their right to sue employers, supervisors or coworkers in court for pain, suffering, and loss of support or other damages. Over time the trade has proven to be one-sided. What employers obtain through lawsuit immunity far outweighs what they pay in compensation benefits. Put another way: What workers and their families are forced to give up is far greater than what they receive.
In its first 73 years, few dramatic changes were made to the Massachusetts compensation system. Meanwhile, other states implemented speedier procedures and paid more adequate benefits. In the early 1980s injured workers, unions, and health and safety organizations in Massachusetts campaigned for reform.
In 1985 these groups convinced the state legislature to revamp the system: the Massachusetts Division of Industrial Accidents was reorganized, benefits were increased, cost-of-living protection was added, and insurers were made responsible for workers' legal expenses. Five years later, however, the Massachusetts economy entered a downturn. Business groups, exaggerating the burden of insurance premiums and threatening to leave the state, demanded rollbacks in worker benefits.
In 1991, in a terrible display of blaming the victim, the legislature:
• Reduced the total-disability benefit rate to 60% of wages
• Shortened the duration of total-disability benefits to three years
• Reduced the partial-disability benefit rate by 10%
• Shortened the duration of partial-disability benefits to five years
• Eliminated payments for the first five days of disability (except for extended injuries)
• Eliminated benefits for scarring other than on the face, neck and hands
• Reduced cost-of-living benefits
• Eliminated certain injuries from coverage
No advances have been made to the Compensation Act since 1991, despite annual efforts by unions and others to restore balance to the system.
All private sector employers, even those with only one employee, are required to purchase workers' compensation insurance or to qualify as self-insurers. Policies must cover all employees from day one, except for seasonal and casual workers and part-time domestic workers, for whom cover elective. A workplace notice must be posted with the insurer's name. Failure to insure is a criminal and civil offense. Penalties may include a stop work order, a fine of $100 per day, and imprisonment for up to one year. Workers' compensation is elective for cities and towns. Although the majority participates, some municipalities, such as Hopedale and Tewksbury, have never accepted the Act, and others, such as Lawrence, Newton, Brookline, Brockton, and Beverly, do not cover teachers or other white-collar employers.
There are several exclusions from workers compensation. Railroad workers, seafarers, police officers, firefighters and independent contractors are excluded from the compensation system. Also excluded are persons such as babysitters and home gardeners whose employment is not part of their employer's regular business. Anyone who is not on an official payroll and anyone who does not pay taxes are exempt from workers compensation as well as shipyard and harbor workers and employees of the U.S. government are covered by federal compensation programs.
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