Underreporting of Work-Related Injury or Illness to Workers??? Compensation: Individual and Industry Factors

Abstract

Individual and industry/occupation factors are related to underreporting of work-related injury or illness to the WC system.

The lack of correspondence between work‐related disability and receipt of workers' compensation benefits

“…Some workers know they are suffering from an impairment but do not know the health condition was caused by work [Pransky et al, 1999;Rosenman et al, 2000]. -Reimbursement for medical care or short-term disability benefits is available from an alternative system [Biddle et al, 1998;Morse et al, 1998;Rosenman et al, 2000;Biddle and Roberts, 2003;Fan et al, 2006]. This correlates with the fact that workers in smaller firms are more likely to file claims [Biddle et al, 1998], as large firms are more likely to provide a full range of private insurance coverage.…”

“…This is likely to reflect the different cultures, rates of unionization, likelihood of retaliation and other factors. It does not, however, correlate with whether the work is physically demanding: As noted by Fan et al [2006], agriculture/forestry/fishing and construction ranked higher in incidence of work-related injury or illness and lower in claim filing; the farming/forestry/fishing occupations ranked highest in incidence and second lowest in claims filing. -Corporate culture generally may have significant effects on whether a worker will file a claim for benefits.…”

“…Concerns regarding job loss or other forms of retaliation by employers permeate the process of claims filing. Studies that have inquired about this issue have found it to be a factor in decisions not to file claims [Weddle, 1996;Pransky et al, 1999;Biddle and Roberts, 2003;Fan et al, 2006]. Workers also do not want to be perceived as complainers or as careless [Pransky et al, 1999].…”

“…This is likely to be true most often in small, private sector, or nonunionized workplaces [Rosenman et al, 2000;Fan et al, 2006].…”

“…Studies that looked at all types of injuries and illnesses: -Fan et al [2006] Table 4] extended the capture-recapture method to six jurisdictions. Using relatively conservative assumptions, in which they assumed source independence (decisions to report injuries and diseases to workers' compensation and to BLS were made completely independently) they estimated that, depending on the state, workers' compensation only compensated from 65% to 93% of all lost-time injuries and diseases, and that the BLS data base only included from 51% to 76% of these incidents, again demonstrating underreporting in both systems.…”