In Georgia and in states all across the country, American’s injured on the job depend on the workers’ compensation system to provide financial assistance for medical expenses, lost wages and other costs resulting from a work-related injury. While this system is often the only thing that keeps injured workers and their families afloat during such a difficult time, the reality is it’s far from perfect.
Here at Gerber & Elkins Workers’ Compensation Attorneys, our Atlanta workers’ compensation attorneys have devoted their entire careers to exclusively representing injured workers and making sure they receive the benefits they deserve. We’re also deeply involved in helping to shape workers’ compensation laws nationwide through organizations like WILG (Workers’ Injury Law & Advocacy Group).
In our day-to-day work, we’re often focused on how we can make the existing workers’ compensation system better for injured workers. So who better to ask, we thought, than the future workers, employees and bosses of America?
Along these lines, we decided to sponsor a privately funded scholarship asking college students to answer a simple question in a 300-500 word essay:
We received many impressive submissions, giving us the challenging task of selecting just one winner. In the end, we chose the essay of freshman Spelman College student Kendall Allen, who is currently studying health sciences.
Here is Kendall’s winning essay:
How would you change the workers’ compensation system to make it more equitable for injured workers?
The workers’ compensation program was originally put into place to help employees from experiencing major income loss and high out-of- pocket expenses associated with job related injuries. When employees are hurt on the job and are no longer able to work, they should be able to depend on the workers’ compensation benefits to provide financial security. However, it is widely known that many employees are not able to sustain themselves solely on the financial benefits received from their workers’ compensation claims. Why is this? In this essay, I will elaborate on the changes that I would make to the workers’ compensation system to make it more equitable for injured workers.
Firstly, in my opinion, there should never be a case in which an employee is clearly hurt on the job and is unable to sustain themselves based on the benefits that they receive from worker’s compensation. The benefits that the employee receives should more closely match their income when they were able to work regularly. This hits very close to home for me. My uncle, who lives in Ohio, is currently receiving workers’ compensation benefits due to a work-related injury in which he lost forty percent of his hearing. He has been unable to return to his full-time job of twenty years due to his hearing loss; yet his workers’ compensation benefits continue to decrease. My aunt has taken on two additional jobs to help support their family. This has created a lot of additional stress for my family members. My uncle will more than likely never return to the job that he once held due to his injury. I know that there are many families in this same situation. Increasing worker compensation benefits to more closely match an employee’s pay rate would make this a more equitable system.
Secondly, workers compensation benefits should be monitored. It is my understanding that each state has their own set of rules and regulations, and that there is no federal oversight. This results in worker compensation benefits being very different in each state. If the federal government monitored the workers’ compensation program I think this would highlight some of the inequities, and then the focus should be to standardize some aspects of the program.
Lastly, but more importantly is that worker compensation recipients are required to see certain doctors in the network. I can’t help but to think that some of these doctors are concentrating more on minimizing costs rather than patient care. As in the case with my uncle, he has not been able to go to any of his regular doctors for his care. I think injured employees should be able to see their own doctors who are familiar with their medical history.
In summary, I’m hoping that the changes that I have recommended in this essay will provide a more equitable environment for worker compensation recipients. By increasing pay benefits, standardizing the program by providing federal government oversight, and lastly allowing recipients to see their own doctors.
About the winner
Kendall Allen is a freshman at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. She is majoring in health sciences. Upon graduation, she plans to attend medical school and become an obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN) doctor. She is passionate about using her education to help women and children in homeless shelters and provide them with the necessary medical care.
In her spare time, Kendall enjoys volunteering for Team Ohio Track Club, which is a non-profit track club where she participates in fundraisers and assists athletes during track meets.
Thanks to everyone who participated in this year’s essay contest, and congrats Kendall on your scholarship! Stay tuned for a follow-up blog post where we’ll share some of our favorite parts from the other thoughtful responses we received.
If you missed the deadline for this contest or you’d like to try again for a $1,000 scholarship, we invite you to visit our Scholarship page regularly to participate in our next scholarship essay contest.
If you have any questions about the essay requirements or the selection process, feel free to contact us.
