State Worker’s Compensation Programs

Workplace injury, illness pushing Americans deeper into poverty, By Seth Freed Wessler, March 4, 2015, NBC News: “Workplace injuries are driving low income Americans deeper into poverty, and casting middle class workers into economic dire straits, a government report said Wednesday.  ‘Work related injuries illnesses push thousands of American families out of the middle class and they block many more low wage workers from getting out of poverty,’ said Dr. David Michaels, the head of Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, in an interview with NBC News.  That claim is supported by a major new investigation also released Wednesday by the news site ProPublica in partnership with National Public Radio. The investigation documents declines in workers’ compensation payouts in the majority of states. Benefits have been cut so dramatically in some states they ‘virtually guarantee injured workers will plummet into poverty,’ the ProPublica story says…”