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Due to the economic recovery, workers’ compensation claims paid to employees are on the rise. In 2011, the amount of benefits paid rose by 3.5 percent according to the National Academy of Social Insurance.
Total benefits rose to $60.2 billion paid from the $58.2 billion paid in 2010. The benefits included a 4.5 percent rise in medical care spending and a 2.6 percent rise in wage replacement benefits. Coverage and wages increased in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and total benefits rose in 29 states, including Ohio.
In Ohio, there was an increase in workers covered by workers’ compensation by 1.4 percent, and benefits paid to them increase by 4.2 percent.
Workers’ compensation was the first insurance programs of its kind in the United States. Most of the states adopted some form of the policy between 1910 and 1920, and every state had some form of workers’ compensation by 1949.
The earliest version of workers’ compensation appeared in Georgia in 1855. It was called the Employer Liability Act. The act simply permitted injured workers to sue employers provided they could prove a negligent act or omission.
Workers’ compensation law has come a long way since the 19th century, and navigating the process without experience can be difficult, to say the least. Our lawyers have been representing injured workers since 1929, when workers compensation was in its infancy. Call us today (614) 221-7548. Let our 85 years of experience fight for your rights if you have been injured in a workplace accident.
Did You Know?: The Ohio BWC Special Investigations Department has saved less than 1 percent of the state’s workers’ comp budget prosecuting fraud, proving it is not rampant.
Larrimer & Larrimer, LLC – Columbus workers comp lawyers