Workers' compensation

Workers' compensation (which formerly was known as workmen's compensation until the name was changed to make it gender neutral) in the United States is a primarily state-based system of workers' compensation. In the United States, some form of workers compensation is typically compulsory for almost all employers in most states (depending upon the features of the organization), with the notable exception of Texas as of 2018. Regardless of compulsory requirements, businesses may purchase insurance voluntarily, and in the United States policies typically include Part One for compulsory coverage and Part Two for non-compulsory coverage. By 1949, every state had enacted a workers' compensation program. History The Workers' Accident Insurance system put into place by Otto von Bismarck in 1884 is often cited as a model for the rest of Europe and later the United States. In the late 19th and early 20th century, U.S. policymakers, journalists, and social scientists convinced of the need for a compensation law disagreed over whether the United States should follow the German system or the British system. The German system was based on insurance and removed employees' right to sue, while the British system preserved the right to sue. The United States eventually followed the German example. Prior to compensation laws, the United States dealt with employee injuries entirely through litigation. The law made an "unholy trinity" of tort defenses available to employers, including contributory negligence, assumption of risk, and the fellow servant rule. As result of this trio of legal doctrines, employees injured in accidents or the families of workers killed at work often lost lawsuits over workplace injuries.