Workers' Compensation Acts

State and federal statutes which provide for fixed awards to employees or their dependents in case of employment related accidents and diseases, dispensing with need by employee to bring legal action and prove negligence on part of the employer. Some of the statutes go beyond the simple determination of the right to compensation, and provide insurance systems, either under state supervision or otherwise.

The various state acts vary as to extent of workers and employment covered, amount and duration of benefits, etc. The effect of most workers' compensation acts is to make the employer strictly liable to an employee for injuries sustained by the employee which arise out of and in the course of employment, without regard to the negligence of the employer or that of the employee. Where the statute applies, it has been uniformly held that this remedy is exclusive and bars any common-law remedy which the employee may have had, the compensation scheduled under the act being the sole measure of damage. Federal employees are covered by the Federal Employees Compensation Act; seamen by the Jones Act; Longshore and harbor workers by the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act. The FECA and LHWCA are administered by the federal Office of Workers' Compensation Programs. Additional benefits to disabled workers are provided under Title II of the Social Security Act.

See also employers' liability acts