The idea and action of Worker’s Compensation is actually an ancient process. The earliest form of this coverage dates as far back in history as 1750 BC. In ancient Sumeria around 2050 BC, modern day Iraq, there was the law of Ur. The law of Ur provided compensation through the form of money for injuries and fractures to worker’s bodies.
The ancient civilizations like the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and Chinese all had different types of compensation for injury or loss. They mainly used types of “schedules”. These schedules were rules as to how much compensation was paid for what type of body part was injured or lost. For example, if someone lost a portion of the ear then they were compensated by the surface area of the ear. The value was estimated by the ears surface area. The same thing occurred of someone lost an arm or portion of an arm. Depending on the length that was lost was what determined how much money or compensation they would receive.
In the United States, workers’ compensation movement emerged after Martin vs. the Wabash Railroad trial in 1893. Martin was a freight conductor and he fell off of his train. The conclusion to the case was that there was a faulty, loose hand rail that Martin fell over. Martin did not receive any type of compensation because one of Martin’s duties as a conductor was to inspect and ensure that there were no faults in the parts and equipment of the train. This brought around the law of contributory negligence. Then later in the early 1900s with Upton Sinclair’s book titled The Jungle, the United States started to move more towards workers’ compensation. The states who started these benefits early were New York in 1898, Maryland in 1902, Massachusetts in 1908, and Montana in 1909. The first actual nation wide type of compensation system was instituted by President Taft in 1908 to cover interstate traders. Then later in 1911 a comprehensive worker’s compensation law was passed. By 1948, every state passed some type of worker’s compensation legislation.
