On May 13, 2026, the New Jersey workers' compensation bar gathered for the annual May Day Seminar, a three-hour intensive legal education covering some of the most pressing and financially consequential issues in the practice. The topics: the Second Injury Fund (SIF) credit debate, the chaos of PEO coverage litigation, and the ethics landmines embedded in the insurer/employer/attorney triangle. What follows is a practitioner's guide to the issues presented, the law as it now stands, and what you need to do about it.
Showing posts sorted by date for query seminar. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query seminar. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Thursday, May 14, 2026
Sunday, June 5, 2022
The Honorable Maria Del Valle-Koch Appointed the New Chief Judge and Director
The Honorable Maria Del Valle-Koch will be the New Chief Judge and Director effective Monday, June 6, 2022. Outgoing Chief Judge and Director Russell Wojenko, Jr. announced Friday that Robert Asaro-Angelo, Commissioner of NJ Labor and Workforce Development, had made the appointment.
Friday, January 1, 2021
Disability for Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19
The residuals of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV2 virus) are many. Claimants will need to prove that the residuals that they have sustained are causally related to the virus.
Saturday, March 28, 2020
Anthony John Minniti, 1948 - 2020
The Honorable Anthony John Minniti, 71, of West Orange, passed away Friday, March 27, 2020.
Saturday, October 21, 2017
Guidelines for Medical Provider Claims - A Valuable Approach
While the vast majority of jurisdictions in the US have the guidance of mandatory workers' compensation medical fee schedules, New Jersey remains one of the very few with no such structure. As I reported earlier, this generates multiple issues in the claims process and creates costly delays in the adjudication of disputes.
Thursday, June 15, 2017
Safeguarding Injured Workers From Cybersecurity Breaches
Under new Federal proposals, injured workers will be protected from cybersecurity breaches. The impact will be greater responsibilities and costs for law firms and, employers and their insurance companies.
Saturday, February 11, 2017
The Promise of State Initiatives to Prevent Long Term Work Disability
Every year, millions of Americans suffer from medical conditions that affect their ability to work. This puts them at risk of losing their jobs or being forced to rely on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). States could help many of these workers stay in their jobs, but promising options for doing this remain largely untested. The five states with state-mandated short-term disability benefits— California, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island—are promising settings for such tests.
Thursday, December 1, 2016
Cybersecurity is an imminent and costly threat to lawyers and their clients
Cybersecurity is a critical issue in handling the workers’ compensation claims process. Regulatory authorities and clients are mounting an increased concern that the legal profession must employ adequate measures to protect data from cyber attacks. The fragmented century old social insurance system is complex and expensive to operate and is now confronted with security measures that are more time consuming, cumbersome and expense to implement.
The progress of technology and the Internet of Things (IoT) is advancing logarithmically. The participants in the present workers’ compensation system need to be aware of the seriousness of cyber vulnerabilities as well their responsibilities to maintain the confidentiality of client’s interests and protect the legal strategies of the case.
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Hot Topics in Workers' Compensation Law Seminar 2016 - Available from NJICLE
Hot Topics in Workers' Compensation Law Seminar
Wed. Sept. 14, 2016
Ÿ Law
Center, New Brunswick 5-8:35p
This year’s program will focus on professional and ethical responsibilities concerning disclosure and protection of client confidential information throughout the course of discovery and litigation, with specific emphasis on the pretrial conference.
The seminar +reviews the Professional Code of Responsibility and it’s integration with the Rules and procedures of The Division of Workers' Compensation, and The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Workers' Compensation "Demise of the Grand Bargain" Seminar Papers Online
The 2016 workers' compensation "Grand Bargain" seminar sponsored by the Pound Civil Justice Institute has posted the draft seminar papers online in PDF format and are available for download. The 2016 Academic Symposium is entitled, "The Demise of the Grand Bargain: Compensation for Injured Workers in the 21st Century."
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Renee C. Ricciardelli, NJ Judge of Compensation
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| The Honorable Renee Ricciardelli, Administrative Supervising Judge, Division of Workers’ Compensation, leads a seminar for workers’ compensation attorneys held as part of this year’s celebration of the 100th Anniversary for the New Jersey Division of Workers’ Compensation. Photo: NJ DOL |
Born in Trenton, Renee was a lifelong Hamilton Township resident before moving to Columbus 10 years ago. Upon graduation from Temple University and the University of Richmond Law School, she became a tax counselor for the Department of Treasury. On Jan. 1, 1976, Renee was appointed by former mayor, John K. Rafferty, as the Hamilton Township municipal attorney and was the first woman in New Jersey to be appointed to this position.
On Feb. 1, 1985, Renee was appointed by Governor Thomas Kean as a workers' compensation judge for the NJ Department of Labor and Workforce Development. She advanced to administrative supervisory judge several years prior to her retirement in June 2014. She authored the Task Force on the Uninsured Employers Fund in 2003.
She was an original trustee of the Sayen House and Gardens in Hamilton Township and served for several years on the New Jersey Advisory Commission on the Status of Women. Renee was an avid sports fan, especially of the New York Yankees and the New York Giants. She attended several Olympics and could converse on any topic related to sports history.
She enjoyed traveling and took beautiful photos of the sites she visited. She was a lover of nature and animals and supported many charitable organizations dedicated to these causes.
Daughter of the late Valentina (DiGiuseppe) and Angelo M. Ricciardelli, she is survived by her brother and sister-in-law, Charles A. and Jean Ricciardelli of Washington's Crossing, PA; her sister and partner, Janice M. Ricciardelli and Ladd Graham of Pasadena, CA; her niece, Elizabeth Al Binali of Dubai, UAE; her nephews, Charles M. Ricciardelli of Washington, DC and David Ricciardelli of Yorba Linda, CA; her great-nephew, Iain Ricciardelli; her great-niece, Bria Ricciardelli, and several cousins.
A gathering of friends and family will be held on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Saul Colonial Home, 3795 Nottingham Way, Hamilton Square, NJ with Words of Remembrance being offered at 12 noon.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Renee's memory to Wounded Warrior Project, 4899 Belfort Road, Suite 300, Jacksonville, FL 32256 (www.woundedwarriorproject.org) or to the Humane Society of the United States, 2100 L Street NW, Washington DC 20037 (www.humanesociety.org) www.saulfuneralhomes.com Saul Colonial Home 3795 Nottingham Way Hamilton Square, NJ 08690 (609) 587-0170 -
See more at: http://obits.nj.com/obituaries/trenton/obituary.aspxpid=173457505#sthash.4SO4ES65.dpuf
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Rating Made Real
Today's post was shared by CAAA and comes from myemail.constantcontact.com
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[Click here to see the rest of this post]
Sunday, September 7, 2014
The Affordable Care Act and Workers’ Compensation: The Known Unknowns
The future of the US workers’ compensation system is more difficult to comprehend almost on a daily basis, as the pendulum of change
continues to swing to extremes and the ground becomes more fertile for
political change. The recent decision in the State of Florida declaring that state's system unconstitutional ads to the continuing tension.
A few weeks ago, I attended Florida workers’ compensation
attorney Gerald Rosenthal’s presentation at the national convention of the American
Association for Justice in Baltimore. He spoke at an academic seminar
concerning the Affordable Care Act (ACA), ERISA and RICO. In his through
evaluation he raised more problems than solutions, from a shortage of primary
care physicians, opt-out systems, the evolution of wellness programs, ERISA
subrogation rights and RICO claims.
During the discussion phase of the presentation, Mr.
Rosenthal entertained a comment from the national guru on Social Security
subrogation issues and Medicare Secondary Payer policy, Hank Patterson of
North Carolina. The topic evolved into a discussion of using health care
policies purchased as part of a workers’ compensation settlement to avoid
subrogation involvement by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The jury is still out on that
issue.
There are many known unknowns as to what effect the ACA will
have the transformation of workers’ compensation in an era of major economic,
political and social adjustment in the
United States.
As Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), author of “A Fighting Chance”, dramatically noted in a
panel discussion with Professor Thomas Piketty, author of “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,”
this week at the Old South Meeting House in Boston, the even growing
economic dichotomy has had major impact on American workers’ as benefits
continue to diminish.
Massive changes in the workplace even become more
problematic when viewed in light of the changing landscape of medical delivery
and restrictions made to health research. The known unknowns to the future of
the nation’s century old workers’ compensation are now becoming more numerous
almost on a daily basis.
….
Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author of NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson-Reuters) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson-Reuters).
Friday, May 30, 2014
Intentional Fraud
All fraud is not actionable in workers' compensation. It is similar to discrimination action actions under the workers' compensation act. There is much talk, but few claims succeed, since they are based upon the element of intent.
This case caught my eye because of David DePaolo's recent blog post highlighting the recent, as David calls it, "Truly Imaginative" behavior of an individual playing two sides of the plot line.
The fraud issue struck a note for me as I have been reviewing cases for an upcoming seminar on workers' compensation issues. The decision of Bellino v Verizon, 2014 WL 10301786 (NJ App Div 2014) is a factual situation that seem to draw the ire of many insurance companies and employers. The injured worker failed to disclose some past medical information during a proceeding. The Court held that the element of intent was not proven.
Cases involving fraud are especially fact sensitive. Rarely does someone play both sides of the story line in perpetrating an intentional workers' compensation fraud scheme. Carlos Perry in West Virginia did so as the US Justice Department reports:
This case caught my eye because of David DePaolo's recent blog post highlighting the recent, as David calls it, "Truly Imaginative" behavior of an individual playing two sides of the plot line.
The fraud issue struck a note for me as I have been reviewing cases for an upcoming seminar on workers' compensation issues. The decision of Bellino v Verizon, 2014 WL 10301786 (NJ App Div 2014) is a factual situation that seem to draw the ire of many insurance companies and employers. The injured worker failed to disclose some past medical information during a proceeding. The Court held that the element of intent was not proven.
Cases involving fraud are especially fact sensitive. Rarely does someone play both sides of the story line in perpetrating an intentional workers' compensation fraud scheme. Carlos Perry in West Virginia did so as the US Justice Department reports:
Knoxville Man Sentenced To Twelve Years Imprisonment For Workers' Compensation Fraud
Carlos Perry Found to Have Defrauded Six Insurance Companies Out of $401,649 in Benefits
May 20, 2014
ABINGDON, VIRGINIA – United States Attorney Timothy J. Heaphy announced today that Carlos Perry, 58, Knoxville, Tenn. was sentenced last week in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Abingdon to twelve years in federal prison.
Perry was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $324,914.70. Perry had previously pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud.
According to evidence presented at the sentencing and guilty plea hearings by Assistant United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee, between January 2011 and February 2014, Perry developed a scheme in which he defrauded six different insurance companies of workers’ compensation benefits using false business and fictitious employees. An investigation by the United States Secret Service determined that Perry’s scheme entailed Perry impersonating an owner of six fictitious businesses located in Wise, Va., Johnson City, Tenn., Bristol, Va., and Abingdon, Va., in order to obtain workers’ compensation insurance. Perry then filed false injury claims on behalf of the fictitious employees.
According to evidence presented at the sentencing and guilty plea hearings by Assistant United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee, between January 2011 and February 2014, Perry developed a scheme in which he defrauded six different insurance companies of workers’ compensation benefits using false business and fictitious employees. An investigation by the United States Secret Service determined that Perry’s scheme entailed Perry impersonating an owner of six fictitious businesses located in Wise, Va., Johnson City, Tenn., Bristol, Va., and Abingdon, Va., in order to obtain workers’ compensation insurance. Perry then filed false injury claims on behalf of the fictitious employees.
Perry received the checks sent by the insurance companies and impersonated the fictitious employees at doctor’s visits and in communications with the insurance companies. The United States Secret Service discovered that Perry utilized nineteen fictitious identities in the course of his scheme and used the social security numbers of numerous real persons to execute his fraud. On January 29, 2014, Perry was arrested by the United States Secret Service and the United States Marshals Service at a doctor’s office in Kingsport, Tenn., where he was impersonating one of the fictitious employees. As a result of Perry’s scheme, six separate insurance companies sustained a combined loss of $401,649.66.
The investigation of this case was conducted by United States Secret Service, United States Marshals Service, and the Virginia State Police. Assistant United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee is prosecuting the case for the United States.
.........
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
The Degree of Employer Control Determines Compensability in an Off-Premises Parking Lot Case
The NJ Supreme Court declared the nature of the employer's control determines compensability in an off-premises parking lot claim. The Court ruled that the NJ 1979 Legislative amendments mandate that the "coming and going" rule bars such a workers' compensation claim when an employee is injured on a public street while walking to and from a public parking lot.
The Court held that even though the employer provided a parking pass to the employee to park in the public lot, that since the employer did not own, maintain or exercise control over the lot nor the route that the employee must take in commuting to the employer's premises, the employee could not pursue a workers' compensation claim.
The element of "control" pervades many issues in workers' compensation including "employment status. NJ has "The Right to Control Test" that is utilized in determining the employment status of the employee.. This is been a major factor in misclassification of workers and the eligibility of workers' compensation cover.
Hersh v. County of Morris A-59 NJ Supreme Court, Decided April 1, 2014.
Note: This cases and others will be the subject the NJ Hot Topics in Workers' Compensation Law Seminar on June 18, 2014. Both Lewis Stein, Esq. and John R. Tort, Jr., Esq., who were the lead counsel representing the parties involved in the litigation, will participating in the upcoming seminar.
Click here to register today.
The Court held that even though the employer provided a parking pass to the employee to park in the public lot, that since the employer did not own, maintain or exercise control over the lot nor the route that the employee must take in commuting to the employer's premises, the employee could not pursue a workers' compensation claim.
The element of "control" pervades many issues in workers' compensation including "employment status. NJ has "The Right to Control Test" that is utilized in determining the employment status of the employee.. This is been a major factor in misclassification of workers and the eligibility of workers' compensation cover.
Hersh v. County of Morris A-59 NJ Supreme Court, Decided April 1, 2014.
Note: This cases and others will be the subject the NJ Hot Topics in Workers' Compensation Law Seminar on June 18, 2014. Both Lewis Stein, Esq. and John R. Tort, Jr., Esq., who were the lead counsel representing the parties involved in the litigation, will participating in the upcoming seminar.
Click here to register today.
Friday, January 17, 2014
United Airlines plane returns to Newark Airport after strong turbulence; 5 flight attendants hurt
As United Airlines begins the furlough today of about 700 flight attendants, a United plane hit turbulence and 5 flight attendance were reportedly injured. Even though they may have been in international airspace, the claims are subject to workers' compensation coverage. Today's post is shared from nj.com.
[Click here to see the rest of this post]
NEWARK — Five flight attendants were hurt, with one complaining of severe back pain, after a Beijing-bound flight that took off from from Newark Liberty International Airport hit turbulence about 30 minutes after takeoff, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said today.
Flight 89 returned to the airport about 4:30 p.m., the spokesman, Ron Marsico said. A United Airlines spokeswoman said the aircraft, which took off at 12:40 p.m., was carrying 189 passengers and 16 crew members. None of the passengers was injured, Marsico said. Emergency workers treated the flight attendants at the scene for minor bumps and bruises. All five were taken to area hospitals, he said. Passengers were offered hotel rooms in Newark and will be flying out tomorrow, the United spokeswoman said. |
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Fee Schedules and Value
Medical costs are a major cost to the nation’s workers’ compensation system. Trying to cap them by schedules is a problem. What type of schedule becomes a political football, sometimes causing chaos. The free market certainly has it advantage though. Employee should as the right to choose their doctor and doctors should be flexible to charge the “going rate” for their communities. NJ operates without a fee schedule, but lacks the free selection component. Access and free choice will go along way to balancing out costs. Demand for participation will increase and employers and workers will both be winners. Today's post is shared from http://daviddepaolo.blogspot.com .
And it isn’t surprising that the Workers’ Competition Research Institute reported Thursday that states without medical fee schedules in their workers’ compensation systems have seen the most rapid increases in prices for outpatient hospital and professional services, while states with fee schedules based on fixed amounts generally fared better.
"States without fee schedules saw faster price growth than states with fee schedules, and, for states with charge-based fee schedules, we saw prices for hospital outpatient services growing faster than states with fixed prices," said Rebecca Yang, the author of WCRI's 2nd Edition of its Outpatient Cost Index and the Fifth Edition of its Medical Price Index for Workers' Compensation, in a webinar yesterday. ... |
Friday, December 13, 2013
Simple Solutions for Home Building Workers
Home building is physically demanding work and manual material handling may be the most difficult part of the job. Manual material handling includes all of the tasks that require you to lift, lower, push, pull, hold or carry materials. These activities increase the risk of painful strains and sprains and more serious soft tissue injuries.Soft tissues of the body include muscles, tendons, ligaments, discs, cartilage and nerves. Soft tissue injuries cause workers pain, suffering and lost income. They can also restrict non-work activity, like sports and hobbies. Builders’ and employers’ costs include loss of productivity and high workers’ compensation insurance premiums.Simple Solutions for Home Building Workers provides basic information about readily available work practices and equipment that can help both new and experienced workers, contractors and builders prevent serious manual material handling injuries. Simple Solutions for Home Building Workers [PDF - 2.6 MB] To Print the Document as a BookletThis publication was designed to be printed as a booklet on 8.5 x 11 inches paper. Proceed with printing the document as recommended below:
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Thursday, December 12, 2013
Wah, Wah, Wah
At least that's the message that I got out of the latest study from researchers at National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in their study just published by the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. According to them, accepted workers' compensation claims that do not result in medical payments could be costing group health insurers at least $212 million a year because folks who don't get their treatment through work comp for their work injuries or illnesses do so through their group health provider. Claims that do not result in medical payments through work comp are referred to as "zero-cost claims" in the study. The researchers' analysis of more than 12,000 claims from 2002 through 2005 revealed that 15.9% of the claims were zero-cost claims. Claimants with zero-cost claims were more likely to use group health insurance services and incur more group health costs. "In the three months before an occupational injury, 53.9% of workers with positive-cost workers' compensation medical claims and 61.6% of workers with zero-cost workers' compensation medical claims used the outpatient group health insurance at least once," the study says. "Within three months after an occupational injury, group health insurance utilization for outpatient services increased to 61.2% and 74.1% for workers with positive- and zero-cost workers' compensation medical claims, respectively." In addition, one of the study's most significant findings... |
SEAK Announces 2014 Seminar Schedule
SEAK is the sponsor of the largest and most highly regarded national workers’ compensation and occupational medicine conference. SEAK’s Workers’ Compensation and Occupational Medicine Conference was first held in 1980 and takes place each July on Cape Cod. Their attendees learn from international thought leaders and go home with cost saving solutions to their issues. They have over 50 exhibitors in attendance each year and SEAK's conference is an annual networking event.
Click here for further information.
| Seminar | Location | Start ▾ | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| SEAK Advanced Orthopedics for Workers’ Compensation and Occupational Health Professionals | Hyannis, MA | July 21, 2014 | July 21, 2014 |
| Return to Work: Evidence Based Skills and Strategies | Hyannis, MA | July 21, 2014 | July 21, 2014 |
| Advanced Neurology for Workers’ Compensation and Occupational Health Professionals | Hyannis, MA | July 21, 2014 | July 21, 2014 |
| The Excellent IME: Master’s Class | Hyannis, MA | July 21, 2014 | July 21, 2014 |
| ADA and FMLA: In Depth | Hyannis, MA | July 21, 2014 | July 21, 2014 |
| 34th Annual National Workers’ Compensation and Occupational Medicine Conference | Hyannis, MA | July 22, 2014 | July 24, 2014 |
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