Workingmen's Compensation

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

a system of compensation for accidents in the course of employment doing away with the delays, costs, and obstacles which brought hardship to the injured workers. Under the employers' liability laws a workingman who had suffered an accident was required to bring suit at law and break down the objections put forward by his employer before he could secure damage for his injury. These laws surrounded the employer with defenses so that the injured worker had to make it clear that he was not himself responsible for the injury sustained, that no fellow worker had been at fault, and that the accident partook of a character which put it outside the normal risks connected with the industry. It thus came about that a small proportion only of the injuries suffered were ever compensated, and the injuries had to be borne with as best they could be. Legislation in the direction of securing compensation for the injured worker had long been the subject of consideration and discussion in European countries, and legislation having that purpose in view was introduced in Germany in 1884. The new laws, which were made the model of laws having a similar purpose in other European countries, also attracted attention in the United States, where a number of States passed legislation on similar lines. This legislation had the effect in most cases of doing away with the necessity of a lawsuit, and of providing scales of compensation for injuries during working hours and connected with the work regardless as to the direction in which responsibility lay. These laws in most cases required be that accidents of every kind should be reported to a public board having the duty of determining the amounts of compensation. The injured worker or his family are thus enabled to receive their due without expense or delay.