Tucson Daily Citizen from Tucson, Arizona • Page 21

M'ONDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 27, 1961 A I I I PAGE ensation' Laws Complex By LOUIS CASSELS WASHINGTON UPI -If you should ever be injured at work--a fate that befalls gome' 2 million Americans year--you will suddenly develop a keen interest in a complex body of laws that has grown up in the United States during the past 50 years under the somewhat quaint name of "workmen's compensation." Workmen's compensation Is one of the nation's oldest social insurance programs, dating back to statutes adopted, in 1911 by Wisconsin and nine other states. its venerability, the today is the subject of sharp controversy, with some critics charging that the laws provide grossly inadequate protection and others contending that they are, in some instances," far too liberal. IT.IS NOT impossible for both groups to be right. There are 54 separate workmen's compensation laws in the United States--one for each state and territory plus two federal laws--and they vary to an" almost fantastic degree in the scope of coverage and type of benefits they provide. For example, an arm at work is worth five times as much in Wisconsin as in Wyoming.

A man-blinded on-the job could receive up to $75 a week for life in Hawaii, but in North Carolina his maximum pension would be $35 a week and it would be cut off after eight years. Even within a given state, there are great differences in the protection accorded to various types of workers. Thus a Texan who Is hurt in a factory may draw compem- gation for as long as 401 weeks, but if he is hurt on a farm, he gets nothing. Before workmen's compensation laws were adopted, an employe injured on his job could damages only by filing suit in court. Today an employe covered by workmen's compensation cannot sue his employer for on-the- Job injury.

THUS THE LAWS, originally designed to insure speedier and more certain redress for workers, fcave come to serve, in this era of sky- high jury verdicts in damage suits, as a kind of protection for employers also. This point is of special Importance in the states---Jhere are 24 of them--in which employers have an option of coming under the coverage of the law, or of staying.and taking their chances in court. Even in states where workmen's compensation laws are compulsory, certain types of employers may be specifically exempted. Agriculture, although it now ranks as-the second most "dangerous" industry in terms cf accident rites, is widely excluded from the laws. There art only nine states in which farm workers are covered in the same way as other workers, although several other states provide for partial or voluntary coverage of agricultural employes.

Although accident rates are often higher in small.plants than large ones, 28 states require, an, employer to come under workmen's compensation only if he has a certain' minimum number of employes --thus leaving the smallest firms exempt. BECAUSE OF these, and other exclusions, fewer than two-thirds of the nation's workers now are covered by compensation Specifically, of 68 million persons in the work force, about 43 million are covered and 251 million are not. The original -concept of the system--still explicitly stated 1 in most of the laws--is that an- injured worker should receive a compensation equivalent to two-thirds of his regular salary for the duration of his disability. But --and the injured worker, this can be an enormous but--every one of the 54 laws contains prpvisions which set a maximum limit on the amount or duration of benefits, or both. It is these rather than the "two-thirds rule," which de- termine how'much is actually paid-in a large percentage of cases.

THE LOWEST a week--prevails in Georgia. The national average is about $40 a week and only 12 laws provide maximums of $50 a week or higher. At the top of the scale, Alaska's maximum is $100 a week and Arizona's $150. Perhaps the greatest variation is in the duration of benefits paid to disabled workers. Thirty laws provide 'that the payments continue for the entire period of disability.

The remaining 24 laws pro- vide for cutting off compensation payments after some a i period, which ranges 330 to weeks. If a worker is killed on the job (and it happens to 14,0001 persons annually) 11 states; provide compensation for his widow for life or until remarriage. The other laws cut off a widow's pension after a certain period, usually less than 10 years. ONE OF THE anomalies of the system is that some widows may draw dual benefits, from workmen's compensation and social security, add- ing up to more than their husbands earned while alive. To compound the absurdity, both their pensions may be cut off after a few years (workmen's compensation by a time limit, social security by the children reaching age 18) so they are left penniless.

Employers have a lively interest in the amount, and duration of workmen's compensation payments because they foot the bill, customarily through insurance premiums. Some states operate their own insurance funds, while others allow the employer to buy coverage from accredited private firms or to underwrite their own risks. The most common pattern is private insurance, which accounts for about two-thirds of the $1.2 billion in compensation payments made annually. The insurance premium paid by any particular employer is revised upward or downward annually on' the basis of claims awarded to his workers. The average company pays about $1.20 in premiums for every $100 of its payroll, but in this, as in everything else about workmen's compensation, there are wide variations.

A firm covering offke workers only may pay only 10 cents per $100, while one engaged" in very hazardous work may have to pay as much per $100. THERE HAVE been protests from some employers that workmen's compensation boards have been too liberal about granting long- term awards to workers who suffer heart attacks or come down with other diseases which may be due more to advancing age than to any hazard of their work. employers a charged that this trend could ultimately lead to a kind of industry-financed "socialized medicine." The AFL-CIO contends, on the other hand, that benefits are inadequate even under the best laws, and are positively "niggardly" most. Neither management nor Concrete Finns To Give Dinner The Arizona A a' I in conjunction with the Portland Cement will sponsor a dinner meeting Wednesday for local architects, engineers, contractors and concrete producers. Guest speaker at the dinner-meeting, which will begin at 6:30 p.m.

at the Ramada Inn, will be Walter E. Kunzc. manager of the Structural Bureau for the Portland Cement Assn. I labor would argue with the i need for far greater uniformi- ty in compensation laws, and the Countii rjf State Governments is working toward that i end, albeit slowly. COMING SOON! WORLD OF A FOR THE OF THE NEW REPLACE NOW AT BIG SAVINGS Box-shaped, a i galvanized for greater durability, Water-tight slip-joint connectors.

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