Interjurisdictional comparison of compensation for work-related injury is difficult. Among the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries, there is wide variation in laws covering work injuries. The “context” of each jurisdiction is critical to any comparative study. To complicate matters for comparison in workers' compensation and OH&S, three TPP member states (Canada, the US and Australia) have laws that vary by state or province. Some TPP countries integrate work-injury compensation with other aspects of social insurance. Just to get an adequate baseline on what would seem to be a simple measure can be overwhelming.
Comparisons of employer cost for work-injury “social insurance” (whether workers' compensation or some other social security provision) are even more problematic. Employer costs for work-injuries typically include workers' compensation insurance costs but these are driven by wage rates, injury rates, compensation or benefit rates, medical costs and, of course, injury frequency and severity. With a wide variety of mechanisms from individual employer liability to integrated accident compensation in TPP countries, there is no simple approach to a common comparison on the employer cost side.
To illustrate this challenge for the worker-side comparisons, consider what would be required to compare the most common work-injury compensation cases. For argument's sake, consider the effort to compare the compensation a worker with a typical work-related time-loss injury might be entitled to in each TPP member country. Sounds simple enough but let's make the consideration even simpler; let's look at only the most common work-related injury cases that result in time away from work. The
median days-away-from-work in the US is 8 calendar days, so keep that in mind when you think about employer responsibilities and worker compensation when you consider each jurisdiction.
A full review of each TPP member state and the individual state/provincial workers' compensation provisions in Canada, Australia and the US is beyond the scope of this blog post but here are some notes on each member state that focus on coverage for short duration absences and wage-loss due to work injury.
United States
As a starting point, consider how work-injury compensation cases are handled in the US. Every US state has some sort of waiting period; in this discussion, a waiting period is a worker deductible in the form of days (3 to 7 calendar or work days, depending on the jurisdiction) without earnings or benefits before compensation for temporary total disability begins. All but two states have retroactive periods so claims for work absences of greater than a specified number of days or weeks (typically 14 calendar days to four weeks) are compensated retroactively for the waiting period. Benefit rates are typically 66.67% of average earnings but may be capped by other provisions such as statutory maximums.
Japan
Malaysia
The compensation or benefit rate is 80% of the worker's average daily wage in the six months before the disability began. The Employment Injury Insurance part of the social security program pays beginning on the
fourth day following certified disability from work.
Mexico
Peru
Vietnam
Chile
Brunei
Singapore
New Zealand
Australia
Injured workers with work absences of eight days or less in most TPP jurisdictions are likely to suffer a significantly smaller loss of income in most TPP member states than most US (and some Canadian) injured workers. Will increased trade motivate improvements in benefits and safer workplaces? How will we know?
As the TPP agreement is ratified by the current dozen member states (and perhaps others in the future), questions regarding the cost and comparability of work-injury coverage are likely to grow. I doubt the backers of the TPP would want to see the agreement result in diminished coverage for work-related injuries but workers' compensation (whether on its own or integrated into a broader social security system) are real costs with real consequences for employers, workers and their families. Research is needed now to establish a baseline that will help future studies determine how the TPP impacts worker health, safety and compensation for work-related injury.
About Terry Bogyo:
Terry is an active researcher, speaker and commentator on workers compensation issues. Now retired, he was the Director of Corporate Planning and Development for WorkSafeBC. His responsibilities included environmental scanning, strategic planning and inter-jurisdictional comparisons.
Terry says of himself: I am a student of workers' compensation systems. Many years ago I discovered two things about this area. First, workers' comp and OH&S are of vital importance to people. Protecting, caring for and providing compensation to workers are important, noble and morally responsible endeavors. The second thing I learned was that no matter how much I knew about workers' comp/OH&S, there was always so much more to learn. This is an endlessly challenging area of study. My purpose, therefore, is not to lecture, but to reflect on the ideas and issues that are topical in this area... and to invite others to share in a learning experience. By adding your knowledge and insights, others with similar interests can participate in the discovery and study of this important domain.
His blog is "Workers' Compensation Perspectives".