The Unrepresented Class: How the 99% are Losing the War for Workers' Compensation

Abstract

Injured workers in the United States have lost many of their rights over the past thirty years. A state-by-state project, sponsored by the business lobby, has tilted the scales in favor of employers and insurers and against injured workers. State legislatures have eroded procedural protections for injured workers, reduced benefit levels to untenable levels, and undermined workers’ ability to direct their own medical treatment. This essay examines major factors causing the business lobby's agenda to prevail. Taking examples from West Virginia, California, and Oklahoma, the essay concludes that the U.S.'s patchwork system of private and public benefits—which I call the fragmented welfare state, with a nod to Jacob Hacker—enabled the erosion of workers' compensation. Federalism, the central role of attorneys, and the prevalence of employer-based benefits all created a climate where the forces defending workers' compensation were too weak to succeed. The only way to fight back is to rethink not only workers’ compensation, but also the U.S.’s welfare state as a whole: to shift from limited, employer-provided benefits to universal benefits guaranteed by the state.