John F. Burton, Jr. is Professor Emeritus and former Dean in the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University and Professor Emeritus in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. He has been a Member of the Study Panel on Workers’ Compensation of the National Academy of Social Insurance since its inception. One of the nation’s foremost scholars on workers’ compensation, Burton chaired the National Commission on State Workmen’s Compensation Laws, which submitted its report to President Nixon and Congress in 1972. Permanent Disability Benefits in Workers’ Compensation, which he co-authored with Monroe Berkowitz in 1987, received the Kulp Award from the American Risk and Insurance Association. Burton was President of the Industrial Relations Research Association in 2002. He has consulted on workers’ compensation to multiple states and the province of Ontario. He has a law degree and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan.
The Academy was thrilled to present John Burton with a National Academy of Social Insurance Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2025 Membership Meeting, in recognition of his decades of leadership and commitment to improving workers’ compensation systems. Countless workers’ lives have been touched by John’s work, which also inspired the origination of the Academy’s Workers’ Compensation Study Panel.
The John Burton Internship on Workers’ Compensation Research and Policy at the National Academy of Social Insurance celebrates John’s legacy and helps cultivate the next generation of workers’ compensation and social insurance scholars.