You have questions about workers’ compensation:
- What
should a workers’ compensation system actually accomplish?
- Are
workers adequately compensated for the economic losses caused by work
injury?
- How
should permanent partial disability be measured and compensated?
- Does
workers’ compensation create effective incentives to prevent workplace
injuries?
- Which
workers’ compensation insurance (public monopoly, competitive, or private
insurance) produce better workers’ compensation outcomes and lowest costs?
- Who
ultimately bears the economic cost of workers’ compensation?
- How do
workers’ compensation benefits affect worker and employer behaviour?
- Why
doesn’t work-related disability necessarily result in receipt of workers’
compensation benefits?
- How
should workers’ compensation interact with other disability and
social-insurance programs?
- How
can different workers’ compensation systems be compared, and what can
those comparisons teach us about reform?
For more than half a century, John F. Burton,
Jr. taught us how to approach these questions and find answers.
John died in late August 2026. The loss to his
family and friends is immediate and immense. The loss of his active voice and
critical analysis to the community of workers’ compensation researchers,
advocates, and policymakers will be felt widely.
Thankfully, his research and approaches informing
our policy choices will endure.
You can still access many of his works
addressing these and other questions at John F. Burton Jr.'s WorkersCompResources.com and
through Rutgers University's John F.
Burton, Jr. resource collection.
Burton's
influence in the United States and Beyond
U.S. workers’ compensation owes much to John.
Beginning with his work on the National Commission on State Workmen's
Compensation Laws (1972), John helped set an agenda for work that continues
today. Many states have yet to achieve the recommendations of the National
Commission report. [For a fascinating insight into the National Commission (and
John recounting his own workplace injury as a young worker), check out the
audio interview or transcript at Pierce, A. S. (Host). (2018, December 28). History
of Workers' Compensation with John F. Burton, Jr. [Audio podcast episode].
In Workers Comp Matters. Legal Talk Network. History of
Workers’ Compensation with John F. Burton, Jr.]
John often referred to where state workers’
compensation laws fall short. National
Commission made recommendations for compensation rates that would provide “at
least 80% of spendable” pre-injury earnings and cover earnings at least equal
to the state average wage. Many states
compensate at lower replacement rates, impose maximum insurable earnings
limits, or cap benefits effectively
reducing compensation (particularly for higher wage earners). Waiting periods
exceeding the Commission's recommended “no more than 3 days” and limiting the
retroactive period to no more than two weeks are still features in several
workers’ compensation jurisdictions in the U.S.
You will find a good summary of Burton's
contributions to U.S. workers’ compensation in Jon L. Gelman, John Burton’s
Unfinished Blueprint, WORKERS’ COMPENSATION, workers-compensation.blogspot.com
(Aug. 25, 2026), https://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/2026/08/john-burtons-unfinished-blueprint.html
John’s peer-reviewed research, formal reports,
and other contributions on workers’ compensation are routinely cited in U.S.
state legislative committees. Through
his legacy of interviews, testimony, presentations at conferences, keynotes at conventions,
and guidance to organizations such as the National Academy of Social Insurance
(NASI), John’s insights and influence continue to be an important part of
workers’ compensation thought, policy, and research globally.
His work helped shape how workers’
compensation systems are designed and evaluated. He changed the way we measure
workers’ compensation performance and contributed substantially to the
development of benchmarks for benefit adequacy and interjurisdictional
comparison.
As the original Chair and continuing member of
NASI’s study panel on workers’ compensation data, John guided this important work,
contributing to the Workers’ Compensation: Benefits, Coverage, and Costs series.
The 2022 NASI report provides
the most recent full report, while the 2023 dataset is the
most recent (and much abbreviated) report. [NASI bestowed a Lifetime Achievement Award recognizing his
contributions: https://www.nasi.org/2024/01/01/honoring-john-burton/
]
And that’s just the start. You will find John F. Burton, Jr. references,
papers, presentations and testimony presented in Canadian provincial Royal
Commissions, Australian state reviews, and even ministerial responses in New
Zealand’s Parliament.
The John
Burton Approach
Burton’s work repeatedly challenged
researchers and policymakers to examine how workers’ compensation outcomes are
measured. Whether comparing employer costs, assessing the adequacy of permanent
disability benefits, or investigating why workers with work-related
disabilities do not receive compensation, he demonstrated the importance of
defining the question carefully, choosing appropriate measures, and testing
policy assumptions against empirical evidence.
John explored workers’ compensation systems beyond
the US with rigorous analysis and let the data tell the story even if the
results were unexpected or contrary to what some might have anticipated or wanted.
Here’s an example to illustrate this point.
Canada relies on provincial workers’
compensation boards—close cousins of U.S. workers’ compensation’s exclusive
state funds. With his colleague Terry Thomason, Burton undertook a detailed
examination of workers’ compensation insurance arrangements in Canada and the
United States. Their analysis concluded:
“… [W]orkers' compensation costs under the provincial monopoly systems of Ontario and British Columbia are not higher, and indeed may well be lower, than they are in the more private, competitive systems that exist in the United States. This conclusion prevails both before and after controlling for a wide range of other factors that influence workers' compensation costs. While it is not a result that we expected, it suggests that cost reductions need not occur - indeed costs may increase - by shifting from monopoly provision to a U.S. model of private insurance.”
— Thomason & Burton (2000, p. 292)
The full essay is found at: Thomason, T.,
& Burton, J. F., Jr. (2000). The cost of workers’ compensation in Ontario
and British Columbia. In M. Gunderson & D. Hyatt (Eds.), Workers’
compensation: Foundations for reform (pp. 261–298). University of Toronto
Press. The paper also references the
prior research and collaborators (including T.P. Schmidle and A.B. Krueuger) contributing
to this analysis.
That conclusion remains relevant to
discussions of workers’ compensation insurance arrangements in state funds, provincial
boards, and other authorities.
A personal
remembrance
John was always kind with his time and
insights. I often participated in conference where he was a featured speaker or
panelist. Despite the demands on his schedule, he always made time to confer
with me, patiently listen to my questions, and provide guidance that made a
difference in my own work and research.
On one occasion, he took more than an hour out
of his day (and miles from his route) to drive me to the airport just so we
could continue our discussions about workers’ compensation, prevention, and
interjurisdictional comparisons.
His Enduring Impact
Burton’s legacy extends beyond the research he
published to the lessons he taught the next generation of workers’ compensation
researchers and policy makers. His discipline
in asking difficult questions, testing accepted assumptions, and examining what
the evidence actually shows is a model that endures.
Always engaged. Always generous with his
knowledge. Always examining, learning
and teaching.
That discipline, those lessons, his extensive research
and detailed commentary are with us still, but his presence will be greatly
missed.
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