Volunteer's Injury at Community Outreach Event Compensable

The NJ Supreme Court has held that an injury sustained while volunteering at her employer-sponsored event is compensable because the event was not a social or recreational activity. 

When is an off-regular-hours activity not in the course of the employment?

The NJ Supreme Court is deliberating on the issue of whether an an employee should receive workers’ compensation if an injured occurred at an off-regular-hours event. The issue presented to the Court was whether an employee is entitled to benefits under the Workers’ Compensation Act, specifically N.J.S.A. 34:15-7, for injuries that occurred while she was volunteering at her employer’s “Family Fun Day” event?

US DOL Proposes New Rule Defining Independent Contractor Status

The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a proposed rule clarifying the definition of employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) as it relates to independent contractors.

Special Independence Day Event - Music and Experts - Veterans Administration

Special Independence Day Event

The Case for a Federal Response to Compensate Workers

Several recent studies highlight the inability of workers’ compensation based programs on a state level to provide a consistent and coherent response to a viral national pandemic such as COVID-19.

CDC Coronavirus Guidance Sets a Standard for Employer Responsibility and Liability

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] has issued an interim guidance based on what is currently known about the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The guidance sets out a plan of  containment initially, and if that fails, mitigation of the spread of this very contagious and potentially fatal disease. If employers follow the guidance, in all likelihood workers' compensation issues will arise as to the payment of temporary and medical benefits following from occupational exposure at work to the COVID-19.

Restoring Overtime

Members of Make the Road New Jersey, the immigrant and workers’ rights organization, delivered 500 letters from New Jersey workers to Gov. Phil Murphy today, urging him to take action to restore overtime rights for thousands of New Jersey workers.

Top NJ Workers' Compensation Decisions of 2019

It has been an active 2019 for workers’ compensation decisions in New Jersey. There have been two NJ Supreme Court opinions and three reported Appellate Court opinions that are noteworthy. From a review of the pending docket the NJ Supreme Court will be reviewing at least 3 very significant issues in 2020 invoking workers’ compensation issues.

NJ Supreme Court to Review Application of Exclusivity Rule Between Social Remedial Legislation Acts

The NJ Supreme Court will review two social remedial legislative acts to determine whether the Exclusivity Rule is applicable. The workplace legislation is the Law Against Discrimination [LAD] and the Workers’ Compensation Act [WCA]. The Court will determine whether a LAD claim is barred by the exclusive remedy of the WCA. Mary Richter, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Oakland Board of Education, C-234 Sept.Term 2019, 2019 WL 5847242, Petition for Certification Granted NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Employment Status: NCAA Division 1 Player Not an Employee

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s dismissal of a Division I college football player’s claim that he was an employee of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the PAC-12 Conference within the meaning of the Fair Labor Standards Act and California labor law and thus entitled to minimum wage and overtime pay.

Governor Murphy Signs Legislation to Dramatically Reform New Jersey's Medical Marijuana Program, Expand Patient Access

Governor Phil Murphy on July 2, 2019 signed the Jake Honig Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Act to dramatically reform New Jersey’s Medicinal Marijuana Program (MMP) and expand patient access to medical marijuana.

Burnout Classified as a Medical Condition

Today's post is shared from etui.org 

Meeting in Geneva on 20-27 May 2019 for its 72nd session, the World Health Organization (WHO) World Assembly has taken a landmark decision. Referring to the conclusions of health experts, it has declared burn-out to be an “occupational phenomenon”, opening the door to having it classified in the WHO's International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Codenamed “QD85”, burn-out is now to be found in the section on “problems associated with employment or unemployment”.

In the words of the WHO, burn-out “specifically refers to phenomena related to the professional context and should not be used to describe experiences in other areas of life.”

The new International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) will come into force on January 1, 2022.

First identified in the 1970s, burn-out had not yet been listed in any of the international classifications (i.e, that of the WHO or the American Psychiatric Association).

The UNO’s specialist agency had initially stated that burn-out had been included as a disease in the ICD, a classification used for identifying health trends and statistics. However, the next day a WHO spokesperson issued a revised statement, saying that burn-out was going to be switched from the category “factors influencing health status” to “occupational phenomena”, though without being included in the list of “diseases”.

“Inclusion in this chapter means that burn-out is not conceptualized as a medical condition, but as an occupational phenomenon”, the spokesman clarified in a communiqué.

Click here to read about the ETUI

See also:

Vers une reconnaissance du burn-out comme maladie ?, in : Le Monde, 28/05/2019

The new WHO classification is available online: https://icd.who.int/browse11/l-m/en#/http://id.who.int/icd/entity/129180281

WHO Press release

Labor groups ask employers to address "burnout" among their workers

…. 

Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author of NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thomson-Reuters) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thomson-Reuters). For over 4 decades the Law Offices of Jon L Gelman 1.973.696.7900jon@gelmans.com has been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.

Equifax Battles Unemployed Workers

Today's guest author is Jon Rehm, Esq. of the Nebraska bar.

According to USA Today, thanks to a data breach that effected 143 million Americans, credit reporting company Equifax is the most hated corporation in America. 

But if you think the data breach was bad, just wait until you hear what Equifax does with unemployment claims. 

In 2012 Equifax acquired TALX (pronounced “talks”) which helps employers process unemployment claims. In 2010, the New York Times did some good reporting about how TALX helped delay and even deny unemployment benefits to unemployed workers during the height of the Great Recession with questionable appeals and other tactics. At that time, TALX processed unemployment claims for employers comprising up to 30 percent of the workforce. 

But even as memories of the Great Recession fade from media consciousness, TALX is still up its old tricks as a division of Equifax. The silver lining to the Equifax/TALX dark cloud for newly unemployed is if an employee appeals a denial of unemployment and Equifax/TALX is handling the claim, there is a good chance that Equifax/TALX will not appear for the unemployment appeal hearing. 

The mere fact Equifax/TALX no shows a hearing doesn’t automatically mean an employee wins their unemployment appeal in Nebraska. According to 224 NAC 01 014, an employee appealing a determination still must present evidence as to why the determination was incorrect. This is true whether the employee was alleged to have quit or was fired. The quit/fired distinction is important as the employee has the burden to prove they quit for good cause while the employer has the burden of proof to show the they fired the employee for misconduct in connection with employment. 

In my experience with uncontested unemployment appeals, the quit/fired distinction is less important than it is in a contested hearing. The problem for many employees though is that they don’t appeal their determination within the 20 day period allowed under Nebraska law. Additionally some employees could avoid an initial denial of benefits if they would better communicate with the Nebraska Department of Labor about their unemployment claim. 

Sometimes newly unemployed workers do things to undermine their right to receive unemployment, but I refuse to scapegoat ordinary people when a corporation like Equifax is actively working against unemployed workers pursing unemployment insurance. 

See also:
Taxi cab driver awarded workers compensation benefits

Employment Status: Common Law Tests May Need an Update

The Internet Redefines Jurisdiction

Is Social Insurance in Our Nation's Future?

NJDOL Alerts CPA;s About Employee Misclassification

Trump's Gig Economy

Today's guest author is Jon Rehm, Esq. of the Nebraska bar.

The United States Department of Labor (DOL) published an opinion letter that would seem to exempt most so-called “gig economy” companies from federal wage and hour enforcement.

Employment Status Not Dependent on Exercising the Right to Control

Who an employee works for is determined by whether an employer may control the employee and not the exercise of the right. A NJ Appellate Court ruled in a dual employment issue that employment status is not dispositive by a single factor and that right to control an employee can be shared which establishes a dual employment situation.

Shift Work Reportedly Causally Related to Increase Risk of Diabetes and Heart Disease

Shift work has been shown to be associated with heart and metabolic disorders. A recently published study reports exactly how shift work is causally related in the long-term to both diabetes and heart disease. Workers’ Compensation claims may increase for such diseases going forward for injured workers seeking benefits for such medical conditions.

Forklift Operator Not A “Special Employee”

 Special equipment operators often appear to work for two employers simultaneously. The facade of dual employment may not meet the criteria for being a shared employee or “special employee.”

An Unpaid Volunteer Firefighter Is Entitled to NJ Workers’ Compensation Temporary Benefits

The NJ Supreme Court unanimously held that an unpaid and unemployed volunteered firefighter was entitled to temporary workers’ compensation benefits. The Court, in reversing both the Trial and Appellate rulings, declared that volunteer firefighters have been conferred special status by the New Jersey legislature and they should be paid temporary disability benefits at the maximum rate without a seven-day waiting period, even if the injured volunteer firefighter was not holding outside employment at the time of the work-related injury.

The Workplace is Getting Safer - The Future of Workers' Compensation

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has confirmed the steady decline in accidents and injuries on the job. They have declined for 14 years. This data mirrors the steady decline of workers' compensation claims and the change of the US workplace from a manufacturing to service. 

NJ Labor Department, USDOL Ink Agreement to Work Together to Protect Businesses and End Exploitation of Workers through Misclassification

The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development and the U.S Department of Labor pledged a historic new level of cooperation to protect New Jersey’s economy by signing an agreement on August 10, 2018 to work together to end illegal employee misclassification.