Trenton Targets Workers' Compensation

Pending New Jersey Legislation and What It Means for Injured Workers

Phones Off, Court On

New Jersey reaffirms a near-total ban on recording workers' compensation proceedings.

Workplace Stress Kills Workers

The International Labour Organization's landmark 2026 Global Report, The Psychosocial Working Environment: Global Developments and Pathways for Action, delivers a sober verdict: workplace stress is not merely an inconvenience; it is a global killer. For workers' compensation practitioners in New Jersey and across the United States, this report carries profound implications. It quantifies what many attorneys and physicians have long argued: that the psychosocial conditions of work — job strain, overwork, harassment, and insecurity — are primary drivers of cardiovascular disease, mental health disorders, and even suicide.

The ILO's new global estimates, published here for the first time, are staggering in scope and sobering in implication. They demand a reevaluation of how workers' compensation law responds to stress-induced illness and death in the workplace.

NJ Workers’ Compensation: Profit Surge

An Analysis of Premiums, Profitability, and Trends from the NJCRIB 2025 Annual Report

Invisible Wounds, Visible Costs

The ILO’s 2026 SafeDay Report and What It Means for Workers’ Compensation

Single Payer’s Workers’ Compensation Gamble

For more than a decade, this blog has tracked what I have called “The Path to Federalization,” the steady, incremental expansion of federal authority over what was once an exclusively state-run workers’ compensation system. From the World Trade Center Health Program in 2010 to the Affordable Care Act’s Libby Care pilot, from Supreme Court validation of the individual mandate in 2012 to the Medicare Secondary Payer offset debate, each chapter has added a new stone to that path. California’s 2026 gubernatorial race is laying the boldest stone yet.

NJ Workers' Compensation: Major Changes Ahead

NJ Workers' Compensation-related bills introduced January 13, 2026 - Currently in committee review

Current Landscape of PTSD Claims

As of 2026, the workers' compensation landscape for mental health injuries has transformed dramatically:

Trending: Workplace Psychological Trauma Litigation

Landmark Railroad PTSD Case Signals Broader Shift in Mental Health Coverage

Workers’ Compensation Benefits for Long COVID

 New Jersey Workers' Compensation Benefits for Long COVID: A Comprehensive Update

Understanding Your Rights Under New Jersey's Enhanced Protections for Essential Workers

Medical Evidence Falls Short

A workers’ compensation medical report offered was insufficient to establish a direct causal link between the accident and the alleged concussion and subsequent stroke. The medical report was precluded from admission by a Federal Court in a personal injury case.

NJ vaccine mandate imposed for Health Care Workers and others

NJ Governor Phil Murphy signed Executive Order No. 283, requiring covered workers at health care facilities and high-risk congregate settings to be up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations, including having received a booster dose. All covered workers will be required to be vaccinated by the dates set forth in the Order and will no longer be permitted to submit to testing as an alternative to vaccination, except for the purposes of providing accommodation for individuals exempt from vaccination as set forth in the covered setting’s vaccination policy. This requirement aims to strengthen protections against the spread of COVID-19 and the highly transmissible Omicron variant to vulnerable populations across the state.

Warehouse Workers' Injuries Are Increasing as Employers Use Artificial Intelligence

An increase of injuries suffered by warehouse workers, fueled by employers' use of artificial intelligence, is getting legislative attention. The focus is on Amazon and other major retail giants whose business has exploded since the COVID Pandemic emerged.

Neurological symptoms like fatigue common in mild COVID

Neurological and psychiatric symptoms such as fatigue and depression are common among people with Covid-19 and maybe just as likely in people with mild cases, according to a new review study led by a UCL researcher.

Searching for Vaccine in NJ

NJ Commissioner of Health Judith Persichilli COVID-19 provided a status report yesterday on the status of vaccine distribution in NJ. 

OSHA: Executive Order on Protecting Worker Health and Safety

Within hours of his inauguration, President Biden moved swiftly to direct the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to promulgate an emergency standard to protect workers from COVID-19. The President signed an Executive Order on Protecting Worker Health and Safety on January 21, 2021.

National Strategy for The COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness

“Our national strategy will be driven by scientists and public health experts who will regularly speak directly to you, free from political interference as they make decisions strictly on science and public health alone.”  President Joe Biden, January 21. 2021

More than half of COVID-19 health care workers at risk for mental health problems

A new study suggests more than half of doctors, nurses, and emergency responders involved in COVID-19 care could be at risk for one or more mental health problems, including acute traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, problematic alcohol use, and insomnia. The researchers found that the risk of these mental health conditions was comparable to rates observed during natural disasters, such as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.

NJ Supreme Court Rules Truck Drivers Entitled to Overtime Pay

Plaintiff Elmer Branch brought a putative class action against his employer, defendant Cream-O-Land Dairy, on behalf of himself and similarly situated truck drivers employed by defendant, for payment of overtime wages pursuant to the New Jersey Wage and Hour Law (WHL). In this appeal, the Court considers whether defendant could assert a defense to the action under N.J.S.A. 34:11-56a25.2 based on its good-faith reliance on certain determinations by employees of the Department of Labor and Workforce Development (Department) that defendant is a “trucking industry employer.”

NJ Receives 1,181 COVID Complaints

The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) received 1,181 complaints from workers and customers in the first four weeks of Gov. Murphy’s executive order expanding workplace protections during COVID-19.