NJ Aims to Speed up Uninsured Penalties

The NJ Legislature is considering speeding up the processing of penalties and assessments against uninsured employers. Bills are pending before both houses of the legislature.


"This bill amends the workers’ compensation law to require that the Director of Workers’ Compensation shall, in any case in which an award of compensation payable by an uninsured employer or an assessment has been ordered by the director, file with the Clerk of the Superior Court a statement of the findings and judgment of the workers’ compensation judge or a certified copy of the director's order.  Upon that filing, the statement or order, as the case may be, shall have the same effect and may be collected and docketed in the same manner as judgments rendered in causes tried in the Superior Court.


"Under current law, the director is not permitted to make the filing until 45 days after payment is due and 10 days after the uninsured employer fails to comply with any demand to deposit with the director the estimated value of the compensation, and 20 days after orders by the director to pay any assessments for failure to pay.  The bill requires, rather than permits, the director to make the filing, and requires that the filing be made without the delays currently imposed.

Identical Bill Number: S2495    Quijano, Annette   as Primary Sponsor Barnes, Peter J., III   as Primary Sponsor Moriarty, Paul D.   as Primary Sponsor Egan, Joseph V.   as Co-Sponsor Diegnan, Patrick J., Jr.   as Co-Sponsor Vas, Joseph   as Co-Sponsor
1/15/2009 Introduced, Referred to Assembly Labor Committee 1/26/2009 Reported out of Assembly Committee, 2nd Reading 5/21/2009 Passed by the Assembly (76-0-0) 5/21/2009 Received in the Senate without Reference, 2nd Reading Statement - ALA 1/26/09 - 1 pages PDF Format    HTML Format Introduced - 3 pages PDF Format    HTML Format Committee Voting: ALA  1/26/2009  -  r/favorably  -  Yes {9}  No {0}  Not Voting {0}  Abstains {0}  -  Roll Call Egan, Joseph V. (C) - Yes Evans, Elease (V) - Yes Dancer, Ronald S. - Yes DeAngelo, Wayne P. - Yes Doherty, Michael J. - Yes Oliver, Sheila Y. - Yes Quijano, Annette - Yes Scalera, Frederick - Yes Webber, Jay - Yes Session Voting: Asm.  5/21/2009  -  3RDG FINAL PASSAGE   -  Yes {76}  No {0}  Not Voting {4}  Abstains {0}  -  Roll Call Addiego, Dawn Marie - Yes Albano, Nelson T. - Yes Amodeo, John F. - Yes Angelini, Mary Pat - Yes Barnes, Peter J., III - Yes Biondi, Peter J. - Yes Bramnick, Jon M. - Yes Burzichelli, John J. - Yes Caputo, Ralph R. - Yes Carroll, Michael Patrick - Yes Casagrande, Caroline - Yes Chiappone, Anthony - Yes Chiusano, Gary R. - Yes Chivukula, Upendra J. - Yes Conaway, Herb, Jr. - Yes Conners, Jack - Yes Coutinho, Albert - Yes Coyle, Denise M. - Yes Cruz-Perez, Nilsa - Yes Cryan, Joseph - Yes Dancer, Ronald S. - Yes DeAngelo, Wayne P. - Yes DeCroce, Alex - Yes DiMaio, John - Yes Diegnan, Patrick J., Jr. - Yes Doherty, Michael J. - Yes Egan, Joseph V. - Not Voting Evans, Elease - Yes Giblin, Thomas P. - Yes Green, Jerry - Yes Greenstein, Linda R. - Yes Greenwald, Louis D. - Yes Gusciora, Reed - Yes Handlin, Amy H. - Yes Holzapfel, James W. - Yes Jasey, Mila M. - Yes Johnson, Gordon M. - Yes Lampitt, Pamela R. - Yes Love, Sandra - Not Voting Malone, Joseph R., III - Yes McHose, Alison Littell - Yes McKeon, John F. - Yes Merkt, Richard A. - Yes Milam, Matthew W. - Yes Moriarty, Paul D. - Yes Munoz, Nancy F. - Yes O'Scanlon, Declan J., Jr. - Yes Oliver, Sheila Y. - Yes Polistina, Vincent J. - Yes Pou, Nellie - Yes Prieto, Vincent - Yes Quigley, Joan M. - Yes Quijano, Annette - Yes Ramos, Ruben J., Jr. - Yes Rible, David P. - Yes Riley, Celeste M. - Yes Roberts, Joseph J., Jr. - Yes Rodriguez, Caridad - Yes Rooney, John E. - Yes Rudder, Scott - Yes Rumana, Scott T. - Yes Rumpf, Brian E. - Not Voting Russo, David C. - Yes Scalera, Frederick - Yes Schaer, Gary S. - Yes Smith, L. Harvey - Yes Spencer, L. Grace - Yes Stender, Linda - Yes Thompson, Samuel D. - Yes Tucker, Cleopatra G. - Yes Vainieri Huttle, Valerie - Yes Van Pelt, Daniel M. - Yes Vandervalk, Charlotte - Yes Vas, Joseph - Not Voting Voss, Joan M. - Yes Wagner, Connie - Yes Watson Coleman, Bonnie - Yes Webber, Jay - Yes Wisniewski, John S. - Yes Wolfe, David W. - Yes

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Good Medicine for an Ailing Compensation System

An historic shift in the delivery of medical care for those injured by occupational exposures has been signaled by the US Senate. Following decades of debate, the proposed emerging health care legislation, amended at the last minute by the Majority Leader's manager amendments, shifts Libby, Montana's asbestos disease claims to Medicare as a primary payor.

The stage was set last June 17th, when the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared Libby, Montana, a Public Health  Emergency, because of asbestos present at the site. The geographical location was the site of a W.R. Grace vermiculite mine.

The legislative provision was "buried" deep in the legislation at the last moment, reported Robert Pear of the NY Times. The amendment was made Senator Max Baucus of Montana, who lead the Senate legislative committee crafting the legislation. The convoluted political bartering over the last few days reflects a sentinel change in how injured workers may be receiving medical care in the years ahead. It is anticipated that major changes will be offered over the years ahead to modify and expand the coverage.

Occupational diseases have always been problematic to the State workers' compensation systems. They have been subject to serious and costly proof issues. They were "tag along" claims for a compensation system that initially was enacted in 1911 to cover only traumatic claims. The proposed legislation is a first major step to move occupationally induced illnesses into a universal health medical care system and will provide a pilot project for addressing the long awaited need to furnish medical care without serious and costly delays.

By allowing Medicare to become the primary payor and furnish medical care, those without a collateral safety net of insurance will be able to obtain medical care effectively and expeditiously. While cost shifting from workers' compensation to Medicare has been an historically systemic problem in the compensation arena, this legislation maybe a first major step to legitimatize the process. The legislation may allow for great accountability and expansion of the Medicare Secondary Payment Act (MSP) to end cost shifting that has become epidemic in proportion. It is good medicine for an ailing workers' compensation system.


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Join Us on Facebook: Injured Workers Law & Advocacy Group

The Injured Workers Law & Advocacy Group is an open and free Facebook group that provides news and open discussions concerning national workers' compensation trends. 
The group is maintained for academic purposes to facilitate national policy discussions. Multiple news feeds and discussion postings are available free of charge.
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BP Workers in Texas Awarded $100 Million By Jury

Ten workers who were exposed to chemicals at a BP plant in Texas have been awarded $100 Million by a jury. The workers were exposed to a toxic substance at the chemical factory in 2007. At least 133 more cases are pending.

The workers were exposed while repairing equipment at the refinery which is the 3rd largest in the US. Pre-trial negotiations were stalled before trial when the workers demanded $5,000 each in damages and BP had offered $500.

Earlier this year The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined BO $21.4 Million for 2005 safety violation. The  company was also charged with $87,4 million in fines for failing to comply with the 2005 agreement to clean up safety violations at the plant. For that incident BP had paid more than $2 Billion to settle hundreds of pending law suits and a fine of $50 Million.

To read more about BP click here.

Chemical Exposure in Iraq Claims Soldier

The death of an Indian National Guard member has been alleged to have been caused by a chemical exposure at an Iraq worksite. 

The terminal cancer of Lt. Colonel Jim Gentry, age 52,  has been attributed to an exposure to sodium dichloride. His unit was assigned to guard American contractors who were restoring the oil fields. The contractor, KBR, has been blamed for the negligent release of the chemical and exposures in the Qarmat Ali Water Treatment plant. Litigation is ongoing.

The US military is presently reviewing the extent of the chemical release and the consequences. The US Senate recently held hearings concerning the safety and health of soldiers deployed to Iraq who may have been exposed to hazardous chemicals at contractor worksites.

Click here to read more about the chemical exposures in Iraq.

Click here to read more about the Iraq worksite chemical exposure cancer claims.

The Cost of Work Related Deaths

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has transposed the gloomy statistics of the fatalities of work related accident into a grim economic figure of a "societal cost" of $43 Billion. The data reviewed was from 1992 through 2001 and consisted of 51,864 fatalities. Costs were expressed in 2001 dollars.

"The burden that fatal occupational injury imposes upon society is severe and multidimensional. In addition to the human costs associated with the loss of a family member, an employee, and a coworker, there are costs that are economic in nature. No single metric can capture all the dimensions of loss, either personal or economic; it is extraordinarily difficult to measure the contribution of a family member or that of an active member of a community or group. To understand the dimensions of loss more fully, it is necessary to measure the aspects of fatal occupational injury that can be captured. Demographic data on fatal workplace injury was captured in the National Traumatic Occupational Fatality Surveillance system, maintained by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

"The current document is an attempt to build upon the surveillance data by adding an economic component; the data in this monograph provide a measure of the economic loss to society from the premature deaths of workers in various economic sectors, by states, to society as a whole, over time, by cause of death, and by demographic characteristics. The findings are compelling: over the period studied, 1992–2001, the estimated costs from these premature deaths exceeded $43 billion. "

Click here to read more about fatalities and workers compensation.

Counting Failure is No Longer an Option

Yearly the US Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes an annual report on workplace accidents, injuries and fatalities. The media has reported that the statical analysis is flawed due to worker hesitation to report events. 


Many injured workers report that they fear that they will be threatened or humiliated by their employers if they report events at work. Worker safety is critical and when it is lacking the injured worker, the employer and the Nation suffers.


David Michaels, The Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)  has set the tone and vision of the New OSHA at a recent speech at a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Program, "Going Green.'"Michael's  said: 


"As you may be aware, numerous studies and Congressional hearings have cast serious doubt on the accuracy of workplace injury and illness reporting.

"A recent Government Accountability Office study confirmed those problems, but also noted serious concerns about incentive and disciplinary programs that discourage workers from reporting injuries and illnesses.

"Most upsetting was a GAO finding that a high percentage of health care providers reported being pressured by employers to under-diagnose and under-treat workers and otherwise manipulate information to avoid reporting injuries and illnesses on the OSHA log. This is irresponsible and unacceptable.

"To ensure the accuracy of injury and illness numbers, OSHA has launched a focused National Emphasis Program. We'll also take a hard look at incentive and disciplinary programs to ensure that they do not discourage workers from reporting.

"Ultimately, of course, counting injuries, illnesses and fatalities is counting failure. The more we design safety into the workplace the less we'll have to worry about injury and illness statistics." 


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