There’s something insidious about the word “benefits.” It suggests that something is being “given” to a worker. 

And that suggestion immediately creates a false narrative: You have “benefits” because your employer gave them to you. Therefore, it’s all about the employer’s money. 

That has always become the starting point for any discussion around changes in workers’ compensation.

To get an increase in benefits, workers are expected to give up something else in exchange. 

But what if workers’ comp and all the other benefits were talked about the same way wages are? 

We call wages your “earnings” because they flow from your work. No one would dare suggest a reform requiring that a raise in pay be offset by longer hours. Wages are earned. 

Shouldn’t we all start talking about workers’ compensation as something people have earned? Wouldn’t we begin a paradigm shift in how changes in the workers’ comp system are viewed?

Injured workers have earned every penny of workers’ compensation. No one “gave” them any of it.

This opinion is republished, with permission, from the California Applicants' Attorneys Association website.