Ed Welch is the director of the Workers' Compensation Center in the School of Labor & Industrial Relations at Michigan State University. He has been with MSU since 1991. From 1991 to 1999 he was also the editor of the newsletter On Workers’ Compensation. He was the director of the Michigan Bureau of Workers’ Disability Compensation from 1985 through 1990. Prior to that, he was a claimants’ attorney in Muskegon and Battle Creek, Michigan and was a high school teacher before going to law school. He is known for his ability to explain the complex aspects of workers' compensation in a simple and entertaining manner.
Ed has written Employers’ Guide to Workers’ Compensation, an analysis of the legal and practical aspects of workers’ compensation, published by the Bureau of National Affairs. He has also written Workers’ Compensation in Michigan: Law and Practice. This book has become the standard legal textbook on workers’ compensation in Michigan. It is, however, not written in a legalistic style, and consequently anyone familiar with workers’ compensation can read and understand it. He has edited Workers’ Compensation Strategies for Lowering Costs and Reducing Workers’ Suffering and published many articles related to workers’ compensation.
Ed has a Bachelor’s Degree in English, a Master’s Degree in Guidance and Counseling, and a Law Degree, all from the University of Michigan. He was elected a charter member for workers’ compensation of the National Academy of Social Insurance. He was the Vice President of the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions. He served as the secretary to a Labor/Management Discussion Group on Workers’ Compensation which was co-chaired by the National Association of Manufacturers and the AFL-CIO. He served as the neutral co-chair of the Workers’ Compensation Committee of the American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section. He served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Work and Health, a research organization in Toronto, Ontario.
In 1990, he received the outstanding achievement award in workers’ compensation from the National Association of Manufacturers, the Alliance of American Insurers, and the American Insurance Association. (Not bad for a former claimants’ attorney.)
