Workers Compensation System - Essay Example

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 323 of the of the Question Worker’s compensation system can be regarded as medical benefits or wage replacement to those employees who has been severely injured while performing their required job in the workplace. This kind of compensation system did not gain much importance until stand was taken by workers. On the other hand, in earlier year’s compensation related issues was majorly handled by court. The compensation law majorly states that employees who are disabled or injured on their duty are eligible for receiving compensation for their medical treatment and are even given monetary rewards so as to compensate on their wage loss. In Canada, worker’s compensation system can be regarded as the first social program which was incorporated so as to favor employers and worker’s group in order to avoid any form of lawsuits. The system was majorly introduced in the state after an inquiry conducted by William Meredith who was Ontario’s Chief Justice. He even outlined a system on basis of which workers would be compensated for injuries occurring at the workplace but for this privilege workers need to give up their basic right linked with suing their respective employers. This was majorly done so that strong bond can be established between workers and employers and even to enable the required compensation to employees. It can even be stated that state began regulating compensation system of employees since the rate of workplace injuries and accidents were growing at a phenomenal speed. This form of system is a provincial responsibility and hence it varies from one region to another. There are even certain places where the principle introduced by Ontario was even termed as Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and this program possessed preventive role ensuring that there is safety in the workplace. These laws were established in 20th century and the major reason behind this was to cope up with social and economic costs associated with industrial accidents. During 19th century, industrial accidents were a major problem and it was handled mainly by the courts. The legal doctrine which was introduced proved to be highly biased in context of employees. This system though resulted into wins of employees who were severely injured but in maximum situation they proved to be unsatisfactory. The reason behind this was ultimately compensation received by employees and their family was relatively less. It can even be stated that regulation imposed by the state in the 20th century was to majorly eliminate any form of injustice done by employers in context of workforce compensation (Aswathappa, 2012, pp. 99-101). Often the employees who won the case against employers in the court related to industrial accidents had to wait for many years to get their payment. In many cases employers even took out their grudge by not paying them the exact amount. This needed proper regulation which was introduced by the state in the 20th century. Their main concern was to convince employees to stop filling cases and focus more on earning their compensation. On the other hand there were even varied terms and conditions introduced so that employers cannot perform any kind of injustice against employees. Question 2 The labor force market of Canada comprise of both women and men. However in the recent times it can be stated that women has been observed to be equally involved in industrial activities. The social behavior or social conditions can be closely related to the gender factors. In earlier times, organization mostly considered male workers while designing such compensation system as they believed that male workers are more prone towards such accidental injuries. The scenario was totally different in those years and the main reason behind this was more percentage of males worked for supporting their families in comparison to males. There have been significant changes in the labor workforce pattern in Canada in recent years as more females joined industrial and manufacturing sector. It is mostly stated that females occupy a major industrial sector that is services. In case of males it was majorly manufacturing and trade. The representation of males is witnessed to be the highest in context of transport, equipment related occupations, trades, manufacturing and processing. In 1994 the gap that existed in earning capacity of men and women had reduced drastically. The gendered concept is greatly associated with injury compensation as males are often considered to be the only earning member of a family and hence are eligible of multiple benefits in case of any such workplace injury (Barnetson, 2010, pp. 134-135). So in majority companies employers develop a specific fund keeping in mind their male proportion of workforce. However in the recent years there has been significant changes in terms of increasing proportion of females in the workplace and focus on developing such a compensation system which is not gender biased. Racism is often a common issue which is observed in workplace and in context of injury compensation. In many organizations there is often a workplace stress related to racism where individuals belonging to different culture and race are treated differently. The compensation system in modern times cannot be stated to support such racism but due to this factor many individuals had suffered. In Canada the issue of racism was highly significant where blacks were often deprived off their basic rights in comparison to white’s. This factor to some extent affected injury compensation as equal benefits were not provided to individuals belonging to different culture. There have been many organizations which have shown partiality in terms of race and employers has offered different compensation system based on culture and origin of individuals. Racist basically indicates that there is certain flexibility in terms of compensation restructuring which at times is explored by employers so as to avoid any form of workplace conflict (Kelloway & Francis, 2011, pp. 123-125). On the other hand, this issue is highly observed in an organization where there is diverse workforce. In the current era this particular issue is no longer associated with injury compensation as companies are more inclined towards forming such a strategy which can provide equal benefits to all employees in workplace irrespective of their caste or culture. Question 3 Manufacturing and resource extraction work is highly associated with various injuries and these injuries are dealt in different manner. The workers compensation system states that there would be different pay structures for different set of injuries. In various conditions it is observed that employer scrutinize the entire scenario well so as to arrive at the compensation amount which needs to be paid to employees. First of all there are different respiratory diseases occurring amongst individuals who are working in manufacturing firms and in that case employers need to be concerned with their compensation system. In earlier times those injuries which were internal was not compensated by employers. The reason is often companies demand for appropriate documents so as to provide required compensation to employees. There has been frauds identified in workers compensation system in various companies such as remote injury in which workers usually get hurt outside the workplace but they demand that they have been harmed while on duty. On the other hand there have been other common frauds such as inflating injuries in which workers often increase the magnitude of their injury so as to gain compensation amount and take rest for longer time period. Even in certain scenario there has been fake injuries where employees in order to gain compensation benefits say false regarding their injuries. These situations are effectively managed in the new workers compensation system where the main focus is towards providing appropriate benefits to those individuals who deserve rather than to those who have faked their injuries. The other new forms of injury are increased rate of accidents occurring in the workplace which are mostly related to urgency at the workplace. It is essential that employers are well aware about the emergency situations in the workplace so that appropriate measures can be taken. This factor has been introduced in the new workers compensation system where top authority is well aware about the varied circumstances which can take place in an organization. There are precautionary measures taken by a firm in terms of allocating funds separately so that different injuries which are witnessed by employees can be appropriately addressed. On the other hand it even removes the issue of discrimination which is highly noticed in a workplace which encompasses diverse workforce. It can be stated that the new set of rules which is introduced through this system not only protects the employer from being a victim of any fraudulent case but even safeguards the basic right of employees. The most essential component which has been incorporated in the system is that workers would eliminate their right of suing an employer and in return they would be provided with all possible benefits. A proper external environmental analysis is usually done by governing authority of this compensation regulatory system so that rules and norms are framed which could mitigate various risks linked with employees. There are certain strict regulations in the system which not only take into consideration the rising number of injuries in the workplace but even encompass some guidelines which need to be met in order to be eligible for compensation benefits. Question 4 The employees as well as workers possessed limited protection from illness and workplace injury before incorporation of workers compensation system. If the workers could afford it then they even could go by the legal procedure so as to file a lawsuit against the employer. However this had a drawback which was if workers achieved success in the case than employers could even reach a stage of complete bankruptcy eliminating any compensation benefits that would otherwise be gained by employees. The Canada’s Meredith principle states that there is no fault compensation which means that workplace injuries are basically compensated without any such faults, and employer and even worker eliminates their right to sue. Other element of this principle is collective liability, independent board, security of payment and exclusive jurisdiction. The factor collective liability states that total cost which is associated with compensation system is basically shared amongst all the employers. On the other hand security of payment state that funds would be maintained properly so that injured workers can access compensation as and when required. Exclusive jurisdiction is another vital factor of Meredith Principle which describes that all possible compensation claims are directed towards the compensation board. The independent board can be related to being financially independent of any special interest group or even government. Woodhouse principle of New Zealand is different from that of Meredith’s principle as it does not take into account the various dimensions which has been proposed by the later principle (Wilton, 2010, pp. 144-145). This is mainly because this Woodhouse principle is strongly aligned with the accidents or injuries which is caused in the workplace but does not take into account the impact of such injuries in terms of compensation. Hence it can be stated that the main area in which these two principles differ is that Meredith principle takes into consideration both employers and workers but Woodhouse principle strongly focus on workers and their eligibility criteria for gaining compensation from the organization. Both the principles are effective in terms of conveying the compensation benefits in the workplace. There are certain differences between these principles and as per Meredith principle employers and workers have equal responsibilities for one another. This principle is usually manifested by framing a structure through which employers can view their required actions which needs to be taken in case of any kind of emergency situation. On the other hand this form of structure even helps the employee to view conditions on basis of which they would be considered as eligible for compensation benefits. Similarly in case of Woodhouse principle the scenario appears to be different in which employees are sole beneficiaries and there is no such importance given to employers. In their respective compensation schemes both the principles has been able to provide insights in terms of appropriate guideline which can safeguard employers as well as employees from any form of fraudulent case in terms of workplace compensation benefit. References Aswathappa, K. (2012). International HRM. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Barnetson, B. (2010). The political economy of workplace injury in Canada. Edmonton: Athabasca University Press. Kelloway, K., & Francis, L. (2011). Chapter 8: Workplace violence & Chapter 13: Disability management and return to work. In Management of occupational health and safety (5th ed.; pp. 195-218 & 325-348). Toronto, ON: Nelson Education. Wilton, N. (2010). An Introduction to Human Resource Management. Great Britain: SAGE. Read More