Category Archives: history of workers’ compensation

The Origins of Workers’ Compensation in the United States

Today’s post is a film on the history of workers’ compensation, presented by the Workers’ Injury Law & Advocacy Group at the National Symposium on the 40th Anniversary of the National Commission on Workers Compensation, which in 1972 found the state workers’ compensation systems to be inadequate and unfair.

This film is a great reminder that the workers’ compensation systems we work under today were created to correct issues with unsafe workplaces and the effects of injuries on the job during a time when workplace safety was not yet a reality.  We need to remember our history, lest the lessons hard-won be forgotten.