Earlier this week, a report came out from ProPublica, describing the destruction of the worker's compensation in this country. As I wrote at that time this system emerged as a compromise, whereby workers surrendered the right to sue in exchange for the relative certainty of compensation when injured on the job. This compromise has been broken, and the consequences are only now being truly accounted for.
On the heels of Propublica's report, OSHA released one of its own. Linking rampant worker misclassification,and general evasion of responsibility by employers, to increasing economic inequality in this country. Most emblematic of this risk shift from those who benefit from the wealth of out nation, to those who worked to create it, is the fact that worker's comp currently covers little more than 1/5th the cost of on the job injures, as laid out in the pie graph below.
It's not just that employers are skipping out on the responsibility that they agreed to in exchange for tort relief when workers comp was created. Less than half of eligible workers actually apply for workers comp benefits, with one study putting the number applying for benefits at 3% of those injured. Across the board injured workers can expect a 15% drop in income in the 10 years after injury on the job. That is if they are able to return to the job.
Much has been made of the need to reform SSDI, Social Security Disability Insurance, the program which provides relief to individuals who are unable to work because of a medical condition. The cost of SSDI is increasing, as is the number of individuals it assists, however this does not indicate that we have become a nation of malingers evading the responsibility to work. Ironically, much of the growth in SSDI can be attributed to the injury on the job. One estimate in the OSHA, extrapolated from a case study, places the annual cohort cost to taxpayers of employers evading responsibility to protect workers from injury on the job at $12 billion, a number which doubles once Medicare costs are incorporated.
And then there's this moment of zen. Less than 50% of workplace related amputations in the state of Massachusetts resulted in workers comp paying a dime out to the injured.
I haven't the words. Check out the report, you might be surprised what you learn. Then again, maybe you've had the misfortune to know.