The original Workers’ Compensation Act came into existence in Massachusetts in 1911. It replaced a system in which workers who were injured on the job were required to file lawsuits and prove negligence on the part of their employers before they could recover anything. In the old system, large numbers of injured workers were left without a remedy because either the injury was not the result of the employer’s negligence or it took so long to pursue the lawsuit that the employee was unable to support himself or herself while waiting. The Legislature decided that this situation was not tolerable. The Legislature created a system in which every worker who received an injury “arising out of and in the course of his employment” would be entitled to a schedule of benefits which provide support to the injured worker during disability and afford the worker some compensation for permanent injuries and medical expenses. Today, the Workers’ Compensation Act makes it unnecessary to prove that the employer was negligent. In the new system, the injured worker need only show that the injury happened at work.