Workers' Compensation Books

This book is extremely helpful for human resource professionals in corporations that have non-exempt employees. In today's society it is important to know what the laws are, as well as having an understanding of them. This book helps to break down the barrier between HR professionals and the technicality of the legal world.

We found this book to provide a very useful and rich summary of this important emerging issue. It covered the waterfront with discussion of diverse issues and represented all the important perspectives. If you want an efficient way to get introduced to this complex set of issues, this book is a must read!

Excerpted from a book review by Robert Whaples in the Independent Review (Fall 2001)

Given the colossal size of the federal government in the United States and its pervasive influence on our economic lives, it is surprising that the growth of government isn't the subject of most history books written about the twentieth century. Unfortunately, the list of good books on the subject is surprisingly short. Fortunately, Price Fishback and Shawn Kantor have written a book that can be added to that short list. Indeed, their book, with its rigorous analysis of both markets and politics, is a model for others to follow.

Fishback and Kantor's exhaustive research provides new insights into why almost all states adopted workers' compensation laws between 1910 and 1921, even though related reform proposals were stillborn. [They] examine the timing of adoption across states and conclude that "progressive" politicians played only a marginal role. The strength of employer and worker interest groups was crucial. The occurrence of a crisis in the old liability system was also extremely important.

Probably the greatest shortcoming of this book is a failure to go back one more step to explain the origins of this crisis in greater detail. Whatever the reasons, the origin of the workers' compensation system, like the growth of government during much of the rest of the twentieth century, hinged crucially on a crisis.

Ultimately, the, Fishback and Kantor's painstaking analysis gives a clear picture of the operation of the American market and political system in an era when the logic of the welfare state was still generally rejected and when other programs that eventually became part of the welfare state (old-age pensions, unemployment insurance and subsidies, and sickness insurance) were not politically viable.

I got this book because I am an employee relations specialist responsible for overseeing unemployment claims. Reading this book gave me insight into what the ALJ's look for when claims are protested. I have since changed some of my responses to reflect what the judges are seeking in making their decisions.

Rory and Ita strike me as nice people who have worked hard; I just wish I could say they led lives that I found interesting. I admire Doyle for honoring his parents this way, but to put it bluntly, this was boring. Growing up, finding work, finding each other, a story that's been told a million times and most of the time in more interesting ways than can be found in this book. After 338 pages, Rory and Ita still remain ciphers, there's no real emotional depth on display; it's just the story of two people who led ordinary lives. That concept can often lead to a wondrous work of art, just not this time.

Sorry to say this makes two disappointing ones in a row for the otherwise terrific Roddy Doyle.Here he essentially transcribes and edits his parents' memoirs. I couldn't help thinking what a great present this book is for his family. By the same token, this oral history doesn't contain a story that will knock the reader out. This criticism comes in spite of the facts that I can't help liking his parents and it was presented coherently. Predictably, the author's family background pales significantly to his characters'. That I should have counted on.
Alternately, Kevin Kearns' often hilarious oral history series on pre-WWII inner-Dublin is definitely worthwhile.

Since the other reviews here don't touch on what I see as the strengths of this book, here's my take.
Roddy Doyle's first work of non-fiction is a low-key but deeply felt paean to his parents (and by extension life in mid-twentieth-century Dublin) in their own words. In alternating chapters, Rory and Ita Doyle tell of their immediate ancestors (including their own parents), their childhoods, meeting and marriage, and their life as a married couple, including seeing their children leave the nest as they ease into retirement. Details accumulate and create a pointillistic portrait of two people enmeshed in a large network of family and community ties, many less than idyllic, and of a group of lives lived with affection and a kind of quiet but ceaseless vigor.
Real tragedy is a thread that runs through the book: Ita's own mother died when she was very young, and one of her children lived only a day. Her comment at the very end of the book is stoic but not self-dramatizing, and all the more moving for it.
And the turbulent larger world is not ignored, but seen mostly in how it affects the family. Rory and Ita began life in what was essentially a nineteenth century world, and end this story in the twenty-first. The continuity of their lives, their sense of wonder at the new tempered by a sardonic sense that everything fresh must be evaluated carefully, makes their discussion of everything from Fred Astaire movies to the Internet interesting.
The larger world also figures in other ways. Mentioned often, the violent history of Ireland, particularly in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, affects the choices made, not to mention the choices available, to many of the people mentioned. But as with American books about "the greatest generation," a key point is that those involved in the struggle knew what they were fighting for: the opportunity to go home and live what are, after all, ordinary lives. The anonyms who constitute the vast majority of all humans who have lived anywhere on this planet are by implication the real subjects of this book. And, perhaps, this book may also serve as a reminder that passion need not be fierce to be strong.

I've read all of Roddy Doyle's books,and no doubt about it,this one is totally different.
This is not a book about Roddy,as a matter of fact it is not really a book by Roddy at all.
This is a book by Rory and Ita Doyle and about their lives and the lives of their parents,grandparents,families and friends.Not only it is written through their eyes and by them,Roddy is hardly even mentioned .His only involvement would seem to have been the catalyst between his parents and the publishers to make the book happen.
Having said that,I found it a very well written and interesting read.It beautifully desceibes the lives,hopes,trials,tribulations,joys,sadness,struggles,family relations,friends,working,religious and all the other things involved in living in Ireland;during most of the 20th.Century.
In many ways it was not all that different where I grew up in Nova Scotia,where many were of Irish and Scottish descent.
In both places,as well as the rest of Europe and America,things were tough,jobs were hard to find,money was tight,but people survived,and in many ways were just as happy as today.
My parents were born about 20 years earlier than Rory and Ita, and went through much the same things that they did working,creating a home and raising a family.I suppose that the biggest difference was that WW1 and WW2 affected things much differently here and The War of Independence certainly had profound effects there.But, inspite of those events ,life went on.
Therefore;as a book that describes the way life went on throughout the 20th Century for a middle class family in Ireland,it is excellent.Wouldn't every family love to have one?It seems to me it would be a much more treasured heirloom than Great Grandmothers drop-leaf table.

I found this book title researching WC for a friend, and have to say, while it may be an excellent book, the author is mistaken in his assertion that no one but insurance companies or law firms puts out an "affordable, understandable" book. When I had the misfortune of being injured on the job, I sought out Nolo.com. Their book, "Taking Charge of Your Work Comp Claim" was invaluable and sure didn't cost [item price]!!!!!

This is the best and most easily readable book I've read on Workers' Compensaton and I will certainly make it suggested reading at my seminars!

what this book is is a bound copy of many xeroxed cases with little to no commentary (is the case the law of the land or just an interesting legal fluke?). Makes a good doorstop.

This book is not a good read. It is filled with stereotypical incidents. So much has changed recently and this book does not address current issues as I had expected to do so. I am sorry to say it has been a disappointment.

While this book has 75 pages, only 31 pages contain informational text. And of those 31 pages the information that directly relates to worker's compensation could fit on one page. This book contains no facts, data or statistics of worker's comp fraud cases/claimants. This book does contain a number of basic forms that most investigators already have in one form or another. Even for the novice investigator I feel this book is useless.