Legal Guide for Workers' Compensation Rights Protection

Author: Huang Leping
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-07-01
Features: Since the publication of "New Practical Guide to Industrial Accident Handling," it has been warmly welcomed by a broad readership. At the strong request of the distribution department and many readers, the revised second edition was introduced to the public less than half a year after the first release. Many readers wrote in to give high praise, calling it the "" of industrial accident workers, which deeply moved me. However, some letters also expressed that the book is too expensive for industrial accident workers to afford, which I truly sympathize with. Although the book is not excessively priced compared to similar publications—only two or three dozen yuan, perhaps less than the cost of a pack of cigarettes for many people—it represents several days' worth of living expenses or the travel costs for a day of advocating for industrial accident benefits for many struggling workers (whether migrant laborers working away from home① or laid-off employees facing bankruptcy). It is a significant burden. Fortunately, the editors at the publishing house took this into consideration and proposed that I write a condensed version of "New Practical Guide to Industrial Accident Handling" to meet the needs of industrial accident workers. This involved compressing the content to lower the cost while preserving as much of the practical operation sections as possible, so that workers could afford the book and read it effectively. The publishing house truly thought about what the workers needed, and I was deeply moved by this and immediately began the writing process.
Given the fixed number of pages, to include as much practical content as possible, I condensed various issues related to industrial accident handling. The book now presented to the readers can, objectively speaking, be considered a condensed of "New Practical Guide to Industrial Accident Handling"—excluding highly academic content and legal regulations, the rest has been largely retained. I believe readers will have their own opinions after reviewing it.
For me, writing a specialized book on industrial accident insurance stemmed from a personal experience with a unique industrial accident. I once worked as a full-time legal consultant for a large central backbone enterprise. During a basketball game between the company and its subsidiary, I accidentally injured my right knee while playing. Based on my past athletic experience, I thought the injury wasn’t serious and believed it would heal with rest, so I didn’t file a request for industrial accident recognition with the company. However, the situation took a much worse turn. For six months after the injury, my condition worsened significantly, with severe muscle atrophy to the point where I could no longer run. Later, authoritative experts diagnosed it as a torn anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus tear, requiring surgery. The cost of the surgery was almost beyond my financial capacity, and the duration and pain of recovery were far beyond my imagination. As a result, I submitted an application for industrial accident recognition to my employer. Due to certain bureaucratic delays, the company’s relevant department took a long time before submitting the application to the local labor department. The application was quickly approved, followed by an impairment assessment and a conclusion from the labor capacity assessment committee. However, implementing the industrial accident benefits took nearly half a year, involving multiple issues such as insufficient industrial accident insurance contributions, the calculation of average wages and the repayment of deducted wages, reimbursement of medical and travel expenses, and the calculation of nursing fees.
This experience greatly deepened my understanding of industrial accident issues—let alone labor insurance or even labor law—and provided me with many insights. I often wonder: If I weren’t a lawyer, would handling these issues be even more complicated? If I were an ordinary industrial accident worker, would I be able to receive the legal benefits I deserve? For those in a vulnerable position, how can they fight for their rights? Compared to powerful corporate groups and employers, even the strongest individual is weak and belongs to a disadvantaged group. However, this doesn’t mean individuals are powerless or should be passive. After all, the legal framework of national construction gives individuals the opportunity to stand up—this is the law. For individuals to claim their rights against the strong, they must stand on the high ground of the law, letting the law speak for them, support them, and uphold justice for them. Therefore, industrial accident workers and their families must master the laws and regulations related to industrial accident insurance, find legal grounds for their rights claims, and identify illegal acts by employers. To protect their rights, they must have legal grounds.
Regarding the widely reported case of a coal mine worker receiving 200,000 yuan in compensation, watching those grieving families of deceased miners in the media expressing gratitude to the government left me speechless. Based on the industrial accident insurance regulations, isn’t there a possibility of demanding even more compensation? For industrial accident workers and their families, mastering the relevant laws and regulations is not an easy task. China’s current legislative status for industrial accident insurance, apart from the Industrial Accident Insurance Regulations (which is an administrative regulation, with some provinces issuing local regulations), includes a small number of departmental rules and local rules, with most being normative documents. The lowest-level normative documents, however, are the most frequently used and most practical in the handling of industrial accidents. There are at least dozens, if not hundreds, of effective normative documents across different regions, and the benefits for civil servants and public institution employees differ entirely from those for employees in private enterprises. With so many laws and regulations, so detailed, neither ordinary industrial accident workers nor ordinary employers can fully grasp them—even professionals like myself sometimes need to consult various materials.
During my own fight for industrial accident benefits, I reviewed a great deal of material, including many books on practical industrial accident handling. From the perspective of an industrial accident worker, these books often lack practicality (especially after the implementation of the Industrial Accident Insurance Regulations). This is because an ordinary industrial accident worker simply wants to understand the entire process of industrial accident recognition and benefit implementation at a glance, as they cannot, like professionals, consult various materials or study each issue.
Here, I hope that the publication of this book can largely avoid the shortcomings of the aforementioned books and provide more assistance and guidance to industrial accident workers and their families.