Protecting Healthcare Heroes: Pandemic Preparedness

The 2025 Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) report, The New Face of Pandemic Preparedness, arrives with a sobering message: five years after COVID-19 began, the world remains dangerously unprepared for the next pandemic. But perhaps nowhere is this vulnerability more acute than among healthcare workers and first responders—the very people we depend on when crisis strikes.

CDC Disruption: Workplace Health at Risk

The recent disruption of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s activities has raised concerns about the potential negative impacts on public health, particularly regarding the identification and treatment of infectious diseases and occupational exposures. Here's how this disruption could negatively impact employees, employers, and ultimately increase the cost of workers' compensation claims:

Algorithmic Burnout: Amazon's Warehouse Workers Under Siege

In a groundbreaking investigation, the United States Senate has exposed a disturbing reality within Amazon's warehouse operations: a systemic approach to worker productivity that comes at an unprecedented human cost. The report reveals a stark and troubling correlation between the company's relentless pursuit of efficiency and the physical well-being of its workforce.

NJ Supreme Court Limits Employer Insurance Coverage for Worker Injuries

In a recent decision, the New Jersey Supreme Court clarified the scope of insurance coverage for employers facing lawsuits from injured workers. The case Dionicio Rodriguez v. Shelbourne Spring LLA addresses whether an employer's liability insurance policy covers claims of gross negligence, recklessness, and intentional misconduct brought by an employee who has already received workers' compensation benefits.

When Skeptics Lead: The Next Pandemic Challenge

As the United States faces the possibility of another presidential transition, the recent announcement of Donald Trump's health agency nominees has sent ripples of concern through the medical and public health communities. With a potential new administration on the horizon, the critical question emerges: Are we prepared for the next infectious disease challenge in the workplace?

Long Overdue Public Safety Worker Coverage

Legislation has been reintroduced to provide workers’ compensation benefits for certain public safety workers who developed an occupational illness or injury flowing from the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A closer look at the legislation reveals that it removes defenses such as causal relationship, statute of limitations, and jurisdiction. Complicated statutory and regulatory challenges may ultimately offset the benefits offered. 

Long COVID Continues as a Workplace Crisis

Long COVID continues to impact the lives of US workers. Millions of Americans live with long COVID and its many symptoms. These include fatigue, cognitive impairment (commonly referred to as muscle or joint pain, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, sleep difficulties, mood changes, and more. With millions of Americans suffering daily, more must be done to address this crisis.

An Artificial Intelligence Certification

Since the public introduction of ChatGPT, the legal community has been attempting to co-evolve with Artificial Intelligence [AI]. AI's major limitation is the fear that this disruptive technology is producing unreliable results.

Workers' Compensation Judges Exempt from Gun Permit Requirement

A Federal Judge, in a multifaceted decision, upheld a New Jersey law exemption that allows specific individuals to carry a concealed weapon without a permit. Workers’ compensation judges actively handling cases are one of the groups of individuals who are exempt from the permit requirement. 

US Supreme Court Allows State Law to Govern Willful Misconduct Cases Under the PREP Act

The US Supreme Court [SCOTUS] has declined to review whether the PREP Act [The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act of 2005, 42 U.S.C. §§ 247d-6d, 247d-6e] pre-empts a claim for willful misconduct, GLENHAVEN HEALTHCARE LLC v. Saldana, Supreme Court 2022. On appeal,  Saldana v. Glenhaven Healthcare LLC, 27 F. 4th 679 - Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit 2022

Rehabilitation, recognition and research needed for people living with long COVID

While most people who develop COVID-19 fully recover, it is estimated that 10–20% go on to develop what is now known as long COVID. This condition involves a variety of mid- and long-term symptoms such as fatigue, breathlessness and lack of mental focus. While the science behind long COVID is still unclear, a new WHO/Europe factsheet collects existing evidence on the condition and its often-debilitating effect on people’s lives.

Burn Pit Legislation Signed into Law

President Biden signed legislation that will provide medical benefits from the Veterans Administration to service members exposed to toxic burn pits while deployed overseas in recent conflicts. The President signed the Sargent First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act. It embodies some of the goals we strived to achieve in the decades-long burn pit litigation project.

US Supreme Court Holds Washington State’s Workers’ Compensation Law Unconstitutional Under the Supremacy Clause

Washington’s workers’ compensation law discriminates against the Federal Government and its contractors. Because §3172 does not clearly and unambiguously waive the Federal Government’s immunity from discriminatory state laws, Washington’s law is unconstitutional under the Supremacy Clause. 

NJ Landscaper Ordered by Federal Court to Pay $400K in Back Wages and Damages to 32 Workers.

A federal court has approved a consent judgment ordering a Succasunna landscaping company and its owner to pay $400,000 in back wages and damages after the U.S. Department of Labor found the employer denied 32 of its workers the overtime pay they earned.

Burn Pit Benefits: The US Senate Passed The Pact Act

The burn pit benefit bill now heads back to the US House of Representatives before going to President Biden’s desk to be signed into law; The PACT Act is named in honor of Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson of Ohio.

OSHA Fines Robbinsville NJ $368K for Scissor Lift Hazard

A U.S. Department of Labor investigation into the fatal fall of a contractor at a Robbinsville NJ frozen food manufacturer identified a wide range of potentially fatal workplace hazards at CJ TMI Manufacturing America LLC, leading the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue the employer citations for 36 violations and proposed $368,513 in penalties.

COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Lifted - Terminating The Rebuttable Presumption

At his final COVID-19 press briefing, NJ Governor Phil Murphy announced the signing of Executive Order No. 292, which lifts the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. The order effectively ends the liberalized span of time that established a rebuttable presumption in favor of the employee as to the causal relationship between employment and COVID-19 on March 7, 2022.

NJ COVID-19 vaccination mandate for, among others, the State's corrections officers, upheld.

NJ COVID-19 vaccination mandate for, among others, the State's corrections officers, upheld. The App Div court held that the Civilian Defense and Disaster Control Act, N.J.S.A. App. A:9-33 to -63, empowered the Governor to issue the order and that the order's vaccination mandate was rationally and adequately tailored to the problem posed. #NJExOrder283 #COVID #VaccineMandate

Governor Murphy Reinstates Public Health Emergency Triggering Presumptions of Compensability

Governor Phil Murphy today reinstated a Public Health Emergency, effective immediately, in order to ensure that the State is able to respond to the continued threat of COVID-19 and the rapidly spreading Omicron variant. The declaration of a public health emergency by statute triggers the workers’ compensation compensability presumptions for essential workers.

CMS Announces 2022 Workers' Compensation Recovery Threshold to Remain at $750.00

Computation of Annual Recovery Thresholds for Certain Liability Insurance, No-Fault Insurance, and Workers' Compensation Settlements, Judgments, Awards, or Other Payments for 2022 were announced this week.