Recovery for Accidental Injuries Under the Virginia Workmen's Compensation Act

The Virginia Workmen's Compensation Act, first enacted in 1918, generally provides for case benefits and medical care to individuals injured in employment-related accidents. While the Act is neither tort law nor social insurance, it contains elements of both. As social legislation, the Act plays an important role in protecting citizens from loss of wages and provides an important supplement to protection available from the federal Old Age, Survivors' Disability and Health Insurance Program, unemployment compensation and private health and accident insurance plans. In 1979, more than 43,000 Virginia employees filed claims under the Act.

Unlike other social insurance programs, however, workmen's compensation is funded by neither the employee nor the state. For a qualifying injury, death or disease, liability is borne by the employer and, presumably, passed on to the consumer."