Although I don’t currently have employees right now, I have had employees in the past and I plan to hire on in the near future. As an employer I would choose to have workers comp but it’s more of a liability protection issue and a desire to have certain benefits as an employment compensation package so to speak. I think workers comp is a good thing but I don’t feel it should be a “requirement” for business owners.
The reason I feel this way is that I see it as an attitude against employers that they owe their employees something because their the evil capitalist who is getting rich off of the back of their employees and because of this their employees are entitled to certain things. No one owes you a job! If you want a job with workers comp then go start a company and purchase your own workers compensation. Don’t work for a company and complain about what they offer. You don’t have to work for them. No one is forcing you to work for their company. If you don’t want to start your own company then go apply with a company that carries workers comp. It’s that simple.
If the law doesn’t require an employer to provide workers comp then they are under no obligation to provide it and since you have a choice to work for them or not then their not “evil” or “sinister” or somehow “irresponsible” if they don’t carry it.
As an employee, if it is not required by law where you are employed (as some states do not require it), then you have a responsibility to make sure you are covered and it should be part of the hiring and negotiation process to clarify that workers comp is part of the agreement of your employment and get it in writting. This way you know your covered without having to constantly ask about it and if the employer drops it without telling you they are liable if you have an accident (as long as you are following safety guidelines).
If you want to wine that it’s too hard for you to follow up with your employer then it’s not that important to you. If their not required by law then the responsibility falls on you anyways. How do you ever know if your employer has it? Obviously if it’s the law then the employer is liable if he doesn’t carry it but if it’s not the law you have no way of knowing if they ar staying covered unless you make it part of your employment agreement.
If it’s not the law then it’s the employers choice wether to provide it or not and you have a choice whether to work for him or not. Instead of demanding he purchase it, go out and start your own company or go work for someone who carries it. If it’s not the law then I don’t see where anyone has a right to complain about it when they have a choice in who they are and work for.
I’m not here to be insensitive in any way to this specific incident. I’m just tired of the attitude of ou society that everyone owes them something. Get off your but and take care of yourself.
Let’s put the shoe on the other foot. If you told your employees that in order for them to be covered you would have to reduce their pay, how many of them would decide it’s not important to them? How many if them would take the higher pay and drop the workers comp? What if you fell asleep the business owner and injured yourself. Would your employees give up and extra couple dollars and hour to pay your bills? I’m sure some would but how many actually care as much about you as you feel you need to car about them?
When I first started hiring guys I had a friend work for me and his future brother in law. I worked along side of them and sometimes sent them out alone. There were times they made more than me because it was really slow (The didn’t know that). My employee/friend came to me one day and handed me a list. He said it was things they would like to see “in the company”. He had listed items like healthcare, company picnic etc. I don’t recall everything on the list. I was kind of floored at his boldness to hand me the list. He was making more for me then he had ever made before at any other job and at times he made more than me. I didn’t even have health insurance. The next day I handed him a piece of paper on it with a response. I listed each suggestion and beside it I listed the amount I would deduct from his pay to cover that expense and at the bottom it listed side by side his current pay and the new pay with benefits. I never heard another word about it.
Employees want to make all kinds of demands but when they have to cover the expenses from their own pocket they tend to change their attitude.
Again I agree with Carrying workers comp. I jus despise the idea that the employer is somehow “irresponsible” if he doesn’t carry it as long as it’s not required by law. If it’s required that’s completely different.
