By Judge Allen Phillips, Jackson

“Work is not man’s punishment. It is his reward and his strength and his pleasure.”

—George Sand, a/k/a Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil, a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. She was one of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, being more renowned than either Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balzac.

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City. Driven largely by the labor unions of the time, and in response to the often-dismal working conditions of the late 19^th Century, it was thought appropriate to celebrate a “workingman’s holiday.” About a decade later, on June 28, 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed a law making every first Monday in September a national holiday.

In 1932, the Tennessee Legislature officially made Labor Day a state holiday. Our state courts have acknowledged it, holding that, “all the public offices of this state may be closed and business of every character, at the option of the parties in interest or managing the same, may be suspended.” Arp v. Wolfe. This observance applies, too, in the Court of Workers’ Compensation Claims (we will be closed on Monday).

Interestingly, it was shortly after Labor Day was designated a national holiday that workers’ compensation laws came to the forefront. Theodore Roosevelt said, “we need comprehensive workman’s compensation acts, both state and national,” lamenting that the United States lagged behind “the rest of the industrialized world” in implementing worker protections. He urged Congress to act, hoping that it would “serve as a stimulus to the various States to perfect their legislation in [that] regard.”

In 1919, Tennessee enacted its first workers’ compensation law, with many proponents citing the same impetus as Roosevelt. Over 100 years later, with many twists and turns along the way, the Act still stands as the relief afforded the victims of on-the-job injuries.

It’s fitting that those involved in workers’ compensation remember Labor Day. Over 3.2 million Tennesseans are employed. Odds are that they will never see the workers’ compensation system. But, whether one of the unfortunate few to suffer injury or not, it is entirely appropriate to reflect upon and appreciate all of our hardworking citizens. They and their employers are the reason we in the field have our own reward.