Workers Compensation establishes the liability of an employer for injuries or sicknesses which arise out of and in the course of employment. The liability is created without regard to the fault or negligence of the employer. Benefits generally include hospital and other medical payments and compensation for loss of income; if the injury is covered by the statute, compensation under the statute will be the employees only remedy against her or her employer. The workers compensation systems in place in each state are exclusive, no-fault remedies for most workplace injuries, and workers compensation attorneys guide injured workers through the process, to ensure that they receive appropriate income replacement payments and other monetary awards.
Athens is a village in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 262 at the 2000 census. The Pilgrim's Pride poultry hatchery in Athens was designated for closure early in 2009, along with other company businesses in nearby Arcadia in Bienville Parish, Choudrant in Lincoln Parish, and Farmerville in Union Parish, where the company maintained a processing and protein conversion plant. Several weeks later, however, Pilgrim's Pride accepted an $80 million offer from Foster Farms of California to purchase the operations. In addition, to the 1,300 direct jobs, mostly in Farmerville, the purchase spares the small farms of some three hundred independent growers. Foster Farms put up $40 million and the State of Louisiana a matching $40 million. Foster Farms will further invest $10 million in capital improvements at the Farmerville plant, to be matched by the state, in an agreement announced by Governor Bobby Jindal.