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Workers' Compensation

Workers' compensation systems (colloquially known as workers' comp in North American English or compo in Australian English) provides compensation for employees who are injured in the course of employment. While schemes differ between jurisdictions, provision can be made for weekly payments in lieu of wages, compensation for economic loss (past and future), reimbursement or payment of medical and like expenses, general damages for pain and suffering and benefits payable to the dependents of workers killed during employment. Cash benefits are established by state formulas with maximum benefit level. The benefits are administered on a state level, primarily by the state department of labor.

These laws are usually a feature of highly developed industrial societies, implemented after long and hard fought struggles by trade unions. Supporters of such schemes believe they improve working conditions and provide an economic safety net for employees. Conversely, these schemes are often criticised for removing or restricting workers' common law rights in order to reduce governments' or insurance companies' financial liability.

Employees' compensation laws were first enacted in Europe and Oceania, with the United States following shortly thereafter. Workers' compensation programs were a key component of the labor structure of the former Soviet Union and similar societies.

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From Wikipedia