A NJ appellate court has ruled that public policy favors litigation in the State of New Jersey were there exists a dispute over multi-jurisdictional choice of law issues governing workers’ compensation insurance coverage in NJ.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query jurisdiction. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query jurisdiction. Sort by date Show all posts
Thursday, December 26, 2019
Friday, September 14, 2012
NJ Legislature to Discuss Workers Compensation Reforms
The Senate Labor Committee will meet on Thursday, September 20, 2012 at 10:00 AM in Committee Room 6, First Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, New Jersey.
The following bills will be considered:
S-1630
Bateman/Oroho
Prohibits payment of temporary disability benefits to incarcerated individuals.
S-1898
O'Toole/Allen
Prohibits requirement to provide information for access to account on social networking website by employer.
S-1915
Sweeney/Whelan
Prohibits requirement to disclose user name, password, or other means for accessing account or service through electronic communications device by employers.
S-1916
Sweeney
A-2879
Burzichelli/Greenwald/
Ramos/Conaway/Caride
Prohibits requirement to disclose user name, password, or other means for accessing account or service through electronic communications devices by institutions of higher education.
S-1926
Greenstein
Bans charging workers' compensation claimants for medical expenses, gives Division of Workers' Compensation sole jurisdiction over work-related medical claims. (Binding arbitration)
S-2022
Madden
A-2652 (1R)
Eustace/Singleton/Egan/
Benson/Coughlin
Bans charging workers' compensation claimants for medical expenses, gives Division of Workers' Compensation sole jurisdiction over work-related medical claims.
SCR-123
Scutari
Memorializes Congress and the President to enact the "Team USA Made in America Act of 2012."
A-2878 (1R)
Burzichelli/Greenwald/
Ramos/Conaway/Caride
Prohibits requirement to disclose user name, password, or other means for accessing account or service through electronic communications device by employers.
Read more about medical billing
Feb 17, 2012
Medical bills now account for almost 70% of the total of workers' compensation benefits paid, and the collection of those unpaid medical bills has exploded into a cottage business creating enormous procedural and ...
Aug 02, 2012
In 2007, Stancil filed a motion in the compensation court seeking an order compelling ACE to pay outstanding medical bills. During a hearing on the motion, the compensation judge commented that ACE had a history of failing...
Apr 09, 2009
Medical Bills of Smokers Reported to be Less Than Expected. It has been recently reported that smokers may actually cost society less for medical treatment than non-smokers. The CDC has reported that since smokers die on...
Jul 23, 2009
The number of disputes concerning the payment/reimbursement of medical bills have increased in workers' compensation claims in New Jersey. The State has proposed converting the Informal Hearing procedure into a new ...
Saturday, November 18, 2023
Extra-territorial Medical Provider Claims
A New Jersey medical provider failed to select the appropriate cause of action and party to seek recovery for unpaid medical bills. The case highlights the bumping road for NJ medical providers who seek reimbursement in claims involving extra-jurisdictional work-related accidents.
Friday, May 22, 2015
Compensable Mental Stress and Conflict of Law Decisions Posted
The NJ Division of Workers' Compensation [NJDWC] today published 3 Court of Compensation trial level decisions. All were favorable to the injured workers and their dependents.
1. Mental Stress: Stress (harassment) particular to employment results in compensable psychiatric claim
Ross v. City of Asbury Park
06–28659; decided July 28, 2008 by the Honorable Leslie A. Berich
Petitioner alleged compensable injury as a result of mental stress created by prolonged exposure to a hostile work environment. Respondent denied these allegations. After applying the Goyden test along with other relevant legal principles, the Judge of Compensation found that there were objectively stressful working conditions peculiar to the petitioner’s working environment which entitled the petitioner to workers compensation benefits.
2. Mental Stress: Specific event (Hurricane) results in compensable suicide claim
Wilde v. Township of Cranford
99–40680; decided January 17, 2008 by the Honorable Leslie A. Berich
Petitioner filed a claim for dependency benefits for herself and her two children by asserting that her husband suffered a stress-induced occupational suicide. The respondent defended against the claim by contending that the work of the deceased, including his work as a policeman during Hurricane Floyd, was not causally related to his suicide. After careful consideration of the evidence, the Judge of Compensation awarded dependency benefits based on her finding that the work of the deceased as a policeman during this storm "lead to a loss of normal rational judgment that resulted in his suicide".
3. Conflict of Laws: NJ law applied where a special state interest existed
Spiros v. Atlantic Ambulatory Anesthesia Assocs. & Shrewsbury Surgical Center
12–22032; 13-1069 decided October 27, 2014 by the Honorable Leslie A. Beric
Medical providers filed applications for payment/reimbursement of medical expenses, which alleged that the insurance carrier for the employer unreasonably reduced the petitioner’s bills for services rendered. The carrier filed an answer in which it denied liability and jurisdiction, asserting the petitioner’s bills could be paid only at a contractual rate highly limited by Tennessee statute. The carrier also filed motions to dismiss the medical provider claims. In analyzing whether New Jersey has a special state interest in cases where medical providers provide services in New Jersey to injured workers, the Judge of Compensation found that N.J.S.A. 34:15-15 gives New Jersey’s Division of Workers’ Compensation exclusive subject matter jurisdiction and New Jersey law applies where the workers’ compensation benefits were provided in this state. Accordingly, the carrier’s motions to dismiss the medical providers’ claims were denied.
Summaries were provided by the NJ DWC.
1. Mental Stress: Stress (harassment) particular to employment results in compensable psychiatric claim
Ross v. City of Asbury Park
06–28659; decided July 28, 2008 by the Honorable Leslie A. Berich
Petitioner alleged compensable injury as a result of mental stress created by prolonged exposure to a hostile work environment. Respondent denied these allegations. After applying the Goyden test along with other relevant legal principles, the Judge of Compensation found that there were objectively stressful working conditions peculiar to the petitioner’s working environment which entitled the petitioner to workers compensation benefits.
2. Mental Stress: Specific event (Hurricane) results in compensable suicide claim
Wilde v. Township of Cranford
99–40680; decided January 17, 2008 by the Honorable Leslie A. Berich
Petitioner filed a claim for dependency benefits for herself and her two children by asserting that her husband suffered a stress-induced occupational suicide. The respondent defended against the claim by contending that the work of the deceased, including his work as a policeman during Hurricane Floyd, was not causally related to his suicide. After careful consideration of the evidence, the Judge of Compensation awarded dependency benefits based on her finding that the work of the deceased as a policeman during this storm "lead to a loss of normal rational judgment that resulted in his suicide".
3. Conflict of Laws: NJ law applied where a special state interest existed
Spiros v. Atlantic Ambulatory Anesthesia Assocs. & Shrewsbury Surgical Center
12–22032; 13-1069 decided October 27, 2014 by the Honorable Leslie A. Beric
Medical providers filed applications for payment/reimbursement of medical expenses, which alleged that the insurance carrier for the employer unreasonably reduced the petitioner’s bills for services rendered. The carrier filed an answer in which it denied liability and jurisdiction, asserting the petitioner’s bills could be paid only at a contractual rate highly limited by Tennessee statute. The carrier also filed motions to dismiss the medical provider claims. In analyzing whether New Jersey has a special state interest in cases where medical providers provide services in New Jersey to injured workers, the Judge of Compensation found that N.J.S.A. 34:15-15 gives New Jersey’s Division of Workers’ Compensation exclusive subject matter jurisdiction and New Jersey law applies where the workers’ compensation benefits were provided in this state. Accordingly, the carrier’s motions to dismiss the medical providers’ claims were denied.
Summaries were provided by the NJ DWC.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Electronic Filing in Workers Compensation: One National System
By Jon Gelman from Jon L Gelman LLC
Costs from development to deployment, to upgrade and usage become compounded by glitches and downtime. Redeveloping the wheel for every software browser upgrade and development merely adds to the cost and loss of time.
Nationally the best system has been the Federal Court Electronic Filing System (EFS) along with the public access system PACER. Handling a universal docket of civil, criminal and bankruptcy actions the system is stellar, and gets better with every new software upgrade
Even though there are many unique local District Courts, and Circuit Court of Appeals Rules, that require adherence, the system integrates functionality that makes it easy and consistent in filing and handling claims.
A universally consistent protocol for handling court related data would allow integration throughout all jurisdictions national. While workers’ compensation has its own particular issues in each jurisdiction, the basic theory and practice is essentially the same.
While some integration of data is universally being proposed under The Smart Act regulations, and other Medicare Secondary Payer Act requirements, the processes are national and universal data integration with an uniform patchwork of claims processes, is tedious and difficult to adoption by local jurisdictions at the present time.
Integration of information is not unusual. The major credit reports companies already have collected national individual data. Likewise, The Index Bureau collects data nationally on injuries and claims for the insurance companies. In fact, Federal agencies like the Social Security Administration already access this data.
The writing is obviously on the wall, and has been since CMS initially promulgated the Patel memorandum July 16, 2001, concerning both collection procedures and future medical allowances.
The tedium of prosecuting a Workers’ Compensation claim, and it’s ultimate adjudication, is an onerous task that seems to be getting much worse because of collection of data requirements and a transient population and multi-jurisdictional employers. Dual jurisdiction claims, collateral liens, pre-existing medical conditions, and the collection of medical data are also problematic. Cottages industries are now emasculating the workers’ compensation premium dollar by offering individual State solutions.
It is is time for the establishment of a national workers’ compensation docket system and case filing program that would integrate all jurisdictions and help the system stay an efficient, summary and remedial system that its crafter envisioned a century ago.
Monday, May 13, 2013
The Attack on the Citadel: A Potential National Loss
Workers’ Compensation is conceptually changing, and its
extinction is becoming more apparent rather than its transformation. Over the
past decades, the “grand bargain” of Workers’ Compensation had evolved to ease the American industrial/manufacturing revolution forward, without burden from the economic complexities and
ramifications of the Civil Justice System.
“The Promise” made in 1911, with the adoption of the compensation system, is now past history. The demands
of the globalized marketplace have eroded the fortress of workers’ compensation that
protected the rights, safety and lives of American workers.
“The Promise” made in 1911, with the adoption of the compensation system, is now past history. The demands
of the globalized marketplace have eroded the fortress of workers’ compensation that
protected the rights, safety and lives of American workers.
Dynamic developments, occurring at an ever increasing pace, have altered
the landscape and accelerated a devastating attack on the citadel of
workers’ compensation. The root of the cause is economic.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Bad Faith Claims Maybe Going to the Jury
The NJ Supreme is going to review the procedure to bring bad faith claims against employers and insurance companies in workers' compensation actions. The Court accepted for review a case holding that workers' compensation bad faith claims are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the workers' compensation hearing official.
The case involves an injured worker who filed a civil action against his employer's workers' compensation insurance company for failing to comply with the Division of Workers' Compensation Order that medical treatment should proceed. The employee alleged that the delay and denial of medical care caused harm. The lower court had rejected the case and dismissed it holding that the jurisdiction for bad faith is exclusively within the purview of the Division of Workers' Compensation. Stancil v. ACE USA, 418 N.J. Super. 79, 12 A. 3rd 223 (App. Div. 2011), ___A.3d___, 2011 WL 3342730 (NJ). Decided June 7, 2011.
In another decision, the NJ Supreme Court held that bad faith, in a negligence action, was a contractual issue giving rise to a factual question that could only be decided by a jury.
"We conclude that a Rova Farms claim that an insurer in bad faith failed to settle a claim within the policy limits, thereby in fact exposing its insured to liability for any excess, represents a traditional contract claim that the insurer breached the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and to which the right to trial by jury attaches." Wood v. New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Company, 21 A.3d 1131, 2011 WL 2314954 (NJ), Decided June 14, 2011.
The Stancil case highlights one of the most serious and costly issues in Workers' Compensation, both in NJ and the nation, the adequate and efficient delivery of medical care. While the courts are struggling with this issue that is compounded by arguments over reimbursement and treatment paths, the compensation system continues to be bogged down and unresponsive to the urgency of the need to delivery medical care to injured workers.
The case involves an injured worker who filed a civil action against his employer's workers' compensation insurance company for failing to comply with the Division of Workers' Compensation Order that medical treatment should proceed. The employee alleged that the delay and denial of medical care caused harm. The lower court had rejected the case and dismissed it holding that the jurisdiction for bad faith is exclusively within the purview of the Division of Workers' Compensation. Stancil v. ACE USA, 418 N.J. Super. 79, 12 A. 3rd 223 (App. Div. 2011), ___A.3d___, 2011 WL 3342730 (NJ). Decided June 7, 2011.
In another decision, the NJ Supreme Court held that bad faith, in a negligence action, was a contractual issue giving rise to a factual question that could only be decided by a jury.
"We conclude that a Rova Farms claim that an insurer in bad faith failed to settle a claim within the policy limits, thereby in fact exposing its insured to liability for any excess, represents a traditional contract claim that the insurer breached the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and to which the right to trial by jury attaches." Wood v. New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Company, 21 A.3d 1131, 2011 WL 2314954 (NJ), Decided June 14, 2011.
The Stancil case highlights one of the most serious and costly issues in Workers' Compensation, both in NJ and the nation, the adequate and efficient delivery of medical care. While the courts are struggling with this issue that is compounded by arguments over reimbursement and treatment paths, the compensation system continues to be bogged down and unresponsive to the urgency of the need to delivery medical care to injured workers.
For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman 1.973.696.7900 jon@gelmans.com have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
The Florida Court Declines Review of Padgett
| Today's guest post is authored by The Honorable David Langham is the Deputy Chief Judge of Compensation Claims for the Florida Office of Judges of Compensation Claims and Division of Administrative Hearings. Contact him at david_langham@doah.state.fl.us. It is shared from his blog lojcc.blogspot.com/ |
In a brief order dated December 22, 2015, the Florida Supreme Court declined to review Padgett v. State of Florida. This saga began with a Miami Circuit Judge presiding over a case involving an injured worker, Cortes, and his employer, Velda Farms. Those two resolved their differences, but the Florida Workers' Advocates (FWA) and Workers' Injury Law and Advocacy Group (WILAG) had "intervened" in the case, meaning they also became parties.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
NJ Denies an Occupational Workers Compensation For Last Exposure Applying Apportionment Rule
A NJ Appellate Court denied an employee workers' compensation benefits by applying an apportionment rule as well as the manifestation of disease doctrine. The employee worked in two states and spend more than 10 times of his working career in Pennsylvania working n a similar job during which time manifestation occurred.
"We do not suggest that there is a mandatory mathematical formula that judges of compensation should apply in calculating the employment exposure of a petitioner as part of Williams's jurisdictional test. Although we might quibble with Judge LaBoy's description of petitioner's exposure as "de minimis," we nevertheless conclude that the sixteen-month exposure was not sufficiently substantial under the totality of the circumstances to constitute injury-conferring jurisdiction in the Division."
McGlinsey v George H. Buchanan Company, Not Reported in A.3d, 2010 WL 3932983 (N.J.Super.A.D.) Decided September 30, 2010
"We do not suggest that there is a mandatory mathematical formula that judges of compensation should apply in calculating the employment exposure of a petitioner as part of Williams's jurisdictional test. Although we might quibble with Judge LaBoy's description of petitioner's exposure as "de minimis," we nevertheless conclude that the sixteen-month exposure was not sufficiently substantial under the totality of the circumstances to constitute injury-conferring jurisdiction in the Division."
McGlinsey v George H. Buchanan Company, Not Reported in A.3d, 2010 WL 3932983 (N.J.Super.A.D.) Decided September 30, 2010
For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman 1.973.696.7900 jon@gelmans.com have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered work related accident and injuries.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Unlawful Asbestos Removal Results in Criminal Charges
Demolition Contractors Indicted for Unlicensed and Unsafe Asbestos Removal at Zurbrugg Hospital Site in Riverside NJ
Illegal actions allegedly caused release of asbestos dust and debris
NJ Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa announced that two men and the demolition company they operated have been indicted by a state grand jury on charges that they unlawfully removed asbestos from the former Zurbrugg Memorial Hospital in Riverside, N.J., without a license, using workers who were not trained or equipped to do the job safely.
The Division of Criminal Justice obtained a state grand jury indictment charging Frank J. Rizzo, 53, of Parlin, Michael Kouvaras, 59, of Maplewood, and the company they ran, Deuteron Capital, LLC, doing business as South Street Fillit Recycling of Riverside, with conspiracy (2nd degree), unlawfully causing the release of a toxic pollutant (2nd degree), abandonment of toxic pollutants (2nd degree), and violating the Asbestos Control and Licensing Act (3rd degree). The charges stem from a joint investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice Environmental Crimes Unit and the Department of Corrections Special Investigations Division.
Between August 2010 and March 2011, the defendants allegedly used untrained day laborers, including inmates from a halfway house, to remove asbestos from the hospital buildings in connection with demolition at the site and their efforts to salvage valuable copper and steel. They allegedly engaged in asbestos removal without the required license from the New Jersey Department of Labor, and their illegal activities allegedly caused the release of asbestos dust and debris. Kouvaras, the owner of South Street, and Rizzo, the project organizer, allegedly directed unlicensed workers to remove asbestos or asbestos-containing material, bury approximately 50 bags of asbestos in the ground, and dump bags of asbestos on the floor of a boiler room so that it would appear that vandals had removed the asbestos while stealing copper and steel.
“These men knew there was asbestos throughout this old hospital and knew the real dangers involved in removing it, but we allege that they put their monetary self-interest ahead of the health and safety of their workers and the surrounding community,” said Attorney General Chiesa. “They are charged with serious crimes, including second-degree offenses that carry a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison.”
“Through our Environmental Crimes Unit, we have made prosecuting polluters a high priority,” said Stephen J. Taylor, Director of the Division of Criminal Justice. “The laws and regulations governing the handling and disposal of hazardous materials such as asbestos are there to protect all of us, and we will come down hard on violators who put workers and the public at risk.”
In early 2010, Rizzo solicited the owner of the Zurbrugg site for the contract to demolish the hospital. South Street was given the contract, which specified that the company would retain all of the proceeds from the recycling of metal and arrange for and pay all demolition costs, including asbestos abatement and disposal. An engineering report on the hospital buildings, which was provided to the defendants, identified extensive asbestos throughout the structures.
The defendants initially retained a licensed asbestos abatement contractor, which provided the required 10-day notice of its intent to perform asbestos abatement at the site to the Department of Labor, Department of Health & Senior Services and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. However, the defendants paid only a few thousand dollars of the 10 percent deposit required by the contractor to start the work. The contractor estimated abatement would cost about $220,000. The licensed contractor worked only one day at the site, removing a small amount of asbestos.
The defendants allegedly used day laborers, including inmates from Clinton House, a work release halfway house in Trenton, to remove asbestos from sections of the hospital, without following the requirements of federal and state laws to prevent the release of toxic asbestos dust and debris. For example, the workers stripped insulation containing asbestos from pipes and a boiler, so that copper pipes, wire and other metals could be salvaged. It is alleged that the workers did not wear protective equipment, with the exception of paper masks, which are not authorized as safe for asbestos removal. The workers quickly took off the paper masks because the masks made it difficult to breathe.
The workers placed materials containing asbestos into black plastic bags, and some of the bags were placed in a roll-off container provided by a waste transportation company. Disposal manifests show 25 bags and 100 bags respectively were removed by a licensed hauler and disposed of at a lawful facility.
Division of Criminal Justice detectives executed a search warrant at the site on Filmore Street on March 28, 2011, and discovered material containing asbestos strewn on the floor of the boiler room. They found a roll-off container holding over 200 plastic bags of materials, 30 of which were tested and found to contain asbestos. They also uncovered two bags containing asbestos tiles buried in the ground during limited excavation at the site.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 2 has taken jurisdiction of the site, which is being evaluated for asbestos removal action.
The state investigation began in early 2011 when the Department of Corrections (DOC) Special Investigations Division received a tip that inmates were being used to remove asbestos at the site. DOC alerted the Division of Criminal Justice, which joined the investigation. The Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Health & Senior Services and Department of Labor & Workforce Development assisted with the investigation, including helping with the execution of search warrants at the Zurbrugg site and South Street offices beginning on March 28, 2011.
Supervising Deputy Attorney General Betty Rodriguez and Deputy Attorney General Mary Erin McAnally presented the case to the state grand jury. The investigation was conducted for the Environmental Crimes Unit, within the Division of Criminal Justice Specialized Crimes Bureau, by Sgt. Steven Ogulin, Detective Dawn Ryan, Detective Michael Klumpp, SDAG Rodriguez and DAG McAnally. The investigation was led for the Department of Corrections Special Investigations Division by Principal Investigator Daniel Klotz.
Second-degree crimes carry a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison and a fine of up to $150,000. The third-degree offense of violating the Asbestos Control and Licensing Act carries a sentence of three to five years in prison and a fine of up to $25,000. The indictment is merely an accusation and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
The indictment was handed up to Superior Court Judge Thomas W. Sumners Jr. in Mercer County, who assigned it to Burlington County. The indictment is posted with this release at www.njpublicsafety.com.
....
For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman1.973.696.7900 jon@gelmans.com have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered work related accident and injuries.
Tuesday, January 5, 2021
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.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
NJ Proposes Informal Process for Medical Bill Disputes
The number of disputes concerning the payment/reimbursement of medical bills have increased in workers’ compensation claims in New Jersey. The State has proposed converting the Informal Hearing procedure into a new Informal Process to hear such disputes and other matters previously consider as an Informal Hearing.
Monday, July 28, 2014
Fear of Ebola Breeds a Terror of Physicians
| Eight youths, some armed with slingshots and machetes, stood warily alongside a rutted dirt road at an opening in the high reeds, the path to the village of Kolo Bengou. The deadly Ebola virus is believed to have infected several people in the village, and the youths were blocking the path to prevent health workers from entering. “We don’t want any visitors,” said their leader, Faya Iroundouno, 17, president of Kolo Bengou’s youth league. “We don’t want any contact with anyone.” The others nodded in agreement and fiddled with their slingshots. Singling out the international aid group Doctors Without Borders, Mr. Iroundouno continued, “Wherever those people have passed, the communities have been hit by illness.” Health workers here say they are now battling two enemies: the unprecedented Ebola epidemic, which has killed more than 660 people in four countries since it was first detected in March, and fear, which has produced growing hostility toward outside help. On Friday alone, health authorities in Guinea confirmed 14 new cases of the disease. Workers and officials, blamed by panicked populations for spreading the virus, have been... |
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Congressional Action on Workers’ Compensation
From coast to coast, the patchwork of state workers’ compensation systems continues to be under constant scrutiny for change. The problems seem global in characteristic as the frustrations continue to rise. The fate of the entire system may result in the effort to enact or defeat legislation to embrace a new national commission on workers’ compensation.
The States universally enacted Workers’ Compensation in 1911 in an effort to replace civil litigation with an administrative system. The approach was to provide a remedial system to injured workers in a summary manner while providing a cost effective approach for employers. Despite the efforts to reduce benefits and limit access States are struggling to maintain the system in one fashion or another. Rumors are spreading that New York, a former industrial jurisdiction, may join the list of radically modifying their system.
The once touted as a “no fault” system, the nation’s workers’ compensation has been besieged by efforts to assert more restrictive requirements for benefits. Medical delivery has stagnated in a complex world of etiology and evidential proof of occupational claims. The cost of soaring medical care, once shifted easily to collateral health insurance companies and the Social Security system, has been met with convoluted reimbursement efforts. Large corporations and public entities that in the past were able to provide an additional stream of revenue to injured workers are now rapidly drying up and or become non-existent under bankruptcy laws. State governments, that maintain the administrative system, are now facing a monumental shortage is revenue and are closing down operations and converting some for criminal and economic sanctions to merely benefit the general state revenues. The few remaining second injury funds have become insolvent and the future remains bleak as the premiums committed to finance these agencies and programs become depleted.
On January 22, 2009, Representative Joe Baca, a Democrat from California, introduced legislation (HR635) to establish a second National Commission on State Workers' Compensation Laws [Commission]. The first Commission was established under the Nixon administration in accordance with the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The new legislation that is now supported by representatives of injured workers lacks co-sponsors. Opposing the legislation is a long line of Industry based employers including the Americans Manufacturing Association and the National Chamber of Commerce.
John Burton, the former chair of the 1971 Commission, in a recent interview, commented that many of the present systems do not even comply with threshold recommendations of the original Commission and that many of the present programs face some serious challenges.
Patrice Woeppel, Ed.D., author of Depraved Indifference the Workers' Compensation System, has called for a single payer medical system to embrace both work and non-worker related injuries. By allowing the employer and insurance carrier to control the medical care she indicates, results in "restricting treatment to the cursorily palliative" or delay and denial of treatment to the injured worker. Additionally medical plan administrative costs of duplicative and wasteful.
As the national health care debate continues and the final legislation unfolds, the workers’ compensation medical delivery issues and wage replacements for temporary and permanent disability may become incorporated into direct or ancillary legislation. A second Commission, in one form or another, aimed at nationalizing the workers compensation system, may indeed become a reality.
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Why We’re Still Killing Workers in the USA
Today's post comes from guest author Jay Causey, from Causey Law Firm.
The AFL–CIO’s annual report on job fatalities is out, and provides some interesting fodder for thought.
It’s no surprise that North Dakota – – with its “wild West” environment for oil and gas extraction on the Bakken Shale was the most dangerous place – – with 17.7 deaths per 100,000 workers versus the national average of 3.4.
Nationally, 4600 workers died on the job in 2012. While that number has fallen since safety laws were implemented in the 1970s, the decline has flat-lined over the most recent decade. It was 4.2 deaths per 100,000 workers in 2006, now still at 3.4 in 2012.
The AFL–CIO report contains maps that reflect part of the reason for the stall-out: the vast majority of the states with the highest fatality rates contain the 8 million workers in states with no federally approved OSHA safety and health plan. The report graphically portrays another salient fact: the number of federal OSHA inspectors per 1 million workers has fallen from a high of 15 in 1980 to 6.9 in 2013. OSHA has been so underfunded over recent years that it would take an average of 139 years for available OSHA inspectors to visit each workplace in their jurisdiction just once. (In some states that number is even more staggering – – 521 years for South Dakota.)
The AFL-CIO report reflects some other interesting facts concerning the demographics of workplace fatalities – – not surprisingly, being foreign-born or Latino puts a worker at a higher risk of fatality, and homicide was the number one cause of death for women in the workplace in 2012.
But, getting back to the “oil patch” in North Dakota, we see other disturbing trends in the culture of workplace injury that accompany the decreasing application of safety regulation. With job growth tripling in North Dakota’s oil patch since 2007, while workers’ compensation filings are up, many injured workers are encouraged by employers in the extractive industries not to file, with many companies working out sidebar deals with injured workers. Injury rates are being kept artificially low by rewards for not reporting. As the AFL–CIO’s safety chief, Peg Semenario, has said, underreporting warps national safety figures in an industry that is already notoriously opaque.
And the culture of creating false indicators of workplace safety will likely have tremendous implications down the line when the 2000 tons of silica-rich sand used in the cement casing of each fracking well begins to work its way into workers’ lungs. NIOSH reported in 2012 that 92 of 116 air samples at franking sites exceeded the recommended safe levels of silica, which can lead to incurable, irreversible lung disease.
Photo credit: Craig Newsom / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Friday, March 18, 2016
NJ Judge Orders Psychotherapy Sessions In Conjunction With Pain Management
A NJ Workers' Compensation Judge Ordered the continuation of medical services to an injured worker who has been struggling for years because of chronic knee pain depression and anxiety despite the objection of the employer who sought to terminate care. The Judge Philip A. Tornetta, Administrative Supervisory Judge of Compensation, adopted an innovative approach in attempt to reduce or eliminated prescribed drugs including, "Oxycontin for her knee pain, Lexapro for depression and Xanax, which helps her sleep."
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Happy 4th of July - "We hold these truths to be self-evident..."
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| Statute of Liberty, NY (c) Jon L Gelman 2012
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
 hen in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer,James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton |
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