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Workers' Compensation and the September 11 Terrorist Attacks
The workers' compensation programs, which were first created by many states to deal with the aftermath of industrial accidents early in the last century, are not usually thought of as life insurance for families. But the spotlight was focused on them for a brief period after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Both Social Security and workers' compensation programs provided benefits to families of workers killed in the attacks.
About 500 workers' compensation claims based on the death of a worker are filed in New York in a typical year. The figures jumped dramatically after the terrorist attacks. By early March 2002, just over 5,600 workers' compensation claims relating to the September 11 attacks had been reported to the New York Workers' Compensation Board. They include over 2,200 claims involving the death of a worker, and about 3,400 claims for disability benefits and/or medical care for workers harmed in the attacks.
By early March 2002, about 2,365 claimants were receiving wage-replacement benefits from workers' compensation or ‘full wage-continuation' benefits from their employers. The claims from the day of the terrorist attacks represent more than four times the typical number of death claims filed in the state of New York in a single year.
For a more detailed discussion of workers' compensation and the September 11, 2003 terrorist attacks, see:
