Memorandum of Understanding about Workers’ Compensation Program.
Memorandum of Understanding
To: Chairman At Large Prince William Country Virginia
From: Student’s Name
Date: 31st October, 2013
Subject: Workers Compensation Regulations
Workers compensation laws and regulations protect employees against injuries and suffering arising from workplaces. In most cases, the laws and regulations are designed to ensure that an employee receives fixed monetary awards in case they get injured at workplaces thus eliminate the need for litigation. The regulation also offers provision on how the workers’ dependants would benefit in case of death.
The primary focus of the workers compensation regulation and law is to ensure that, the governing administration facilitate the claim filed by an employee for compensation to be effected immediately. In addition, the provision also assists the person claiming compensation to familiarize themselves with the requirements necessary for application. The workers’ compensation regulation stipulates the agreement between the employer and the employee in case an injury occurs thus improving the understanding between the two parties.
Under the workers compensation regulation, there are certain terms or phrases used for limited situations when the policy is applied. First, the word benefit or compensation as been defined as any money paid to or on behalf of the beneficiary from the workers compensation scheme or fund. The term benefit also includes any loss of wage-earning capacity, lost wages, and physical impairment (Guo and Burton, 2010). According to the regulation compensation include any amount paid in regard to request advanced by employer towards vocational rehabilitation, medical examination, and funeral expenses incurred by employee; however, it does not include continuation of payment after death (Electronic Code of Federal Regulation, 2013). The term disability as been defined as the incapacity originating from employment injury and the employee continue to receive the total amount of wages or salary. The phrase, “Pay rate for compensation purpose” means that, the employee’s pay continues as stipulated under the Act of Workers Compensation (Electronic Code of federal Regulation 2013). To ascertain the extent of damage that occurred to the employee, the employer requires six months. The term surviving spouse is defined as wife or husband living and was the dependent on the deceased at the time of death.
The language used to write the benefit and compensation regulation promotes diversity and cultural awareness among institutions. For example, the statutory provides that, an employee shall fall under any group such as civil officer, individual rendering service to the republic, independent contractor, or person appointed to the former president (Guo and Burton, 2010). In addition, it specifies that, no restriction by tribe, race, or body color in order to become an employee of any organization. This promotes understanding of diversity and love.
For a long time, the benefit and compensation regulation has not been well intended because it contains some definitions which are incomplete thus confusing the employees and beneficiaries. This lack of proper communication has led to humiliation of many employees and sometimes causing conflict between the employer and the beneficiaries (Guo and Burton, 2010). For example, the definition of surviving spouse is incomplete because it does not include polygamous families.
Since the respective authorities dealing with workers’ compensation scheme has not identified the mistakes, it is recommended that, the statutory definition of surviving spouse should include any person who depended on the deceased like children, husband, or wives (Guo and Burton, 2010). The regulation should allow the dependent person to process the benefits.
Other areas that require revision in future include the time limit required for the claimant to file the claim. It is recommendable that filing of the claim should take less than a month to effect the payment. Provision on what happens in case the claim reoccur needs to be elaborated to include the percentages used under first claim and second claim. The provision concerning the duration required for a notice of death to be made to the employer by the dependants needs to be revised to be within a period of one month. This would avoid locking the potential beneficiaries (Guo and Burton, 2010). For example, from all the payment data and claim data collected, it is only recommendable to keep compensation payment which allows one entry per claimant.
Reference
Electronic Code of Federal Regulation (2013). Workers’ compensation program. Retrieved 1, October, 2013, from http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/
Guo, X., & Burton F. J. (2010). Workers compensation: Recent development in moral hazards and benefits payment. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 63(2), 340-355.