Contractual Choice of Law Held Governing

The choice of law embodied in a contract is governing a recent NJ Appellate Division ruled. 

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.

NJ Governor Murphy Signs Legislation and Executive Order Ending COVID-19 Public Health Emergency

With all COVID-19 capacity restrictions on businesses and gathering limits having been lifted due to the continued improvement of New Jersey’s public health metrics, Governor Phil Murphy today signed legislation (A5820/S3866) enabling the end of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency that has been in place since March 9, 2020. Immediately following the signing of the legislation, Governor Murphy signed Executive Order No. 244, ending the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. Under the legislation, the majority of executive orders issued pursuant to the Public Health Emergency will expire 30 days from today.

Dental Professionals at Increased Risk for COVID-19

Dental professionals for increased risk of COVID-19 infection a newly published study reports.

Court Rejects Roundup Settlement

The proposed class action settlement in the Bayer Roundup Products Liability Litigation has been rejected by a Federal District Court overseeing the Multi District Litigation (MDL). The Court concluded that the potential future claims group, those who have not yet been diagnosed with Non-Hodgins Lymphoma (NHL) but used Roundup before February 2021, was unreasonable. Bayer purchased Roundup from Monsanto.

CMS Webinar on the PAID Act

To implement the  Provide Accurate Information Directly (PAID) Act*, enacted December. 11, 2020 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has scheduled a webinar. The program will stream on Wednesday, June 21, 2021.

Death by Overwork

The consequences of working too much can have fatal consequences. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this trend by extending work hours through remote work and eliminating time-off, including vacations. The toll on the American workforce is devastating, and the consequences on the entire workers’ compensation system are enormous. 

NJ Senate to Vote on Employment Bill

Workers in NJ who are injured at work do not have protected job status. Typically, employers will fill their positions with a replacement just because they are “absent" from work.

The NJ Senate will vote vote on S2998 on June 3, 2021. This bill addressed that issue and requires any employer who has 50 or more employees to provide a hiring preference to an employee who was injured in a work- related injury, has reached maximum medical improvement, and cannot return to the employee’s former position with that employer. The employer is only required to provide the hiring preference if the employee can perform the essential duties of an existing, unfilled position.

The bill does not require an employer to create a new position for the injured employee, nor does it require the employer to remove another employee from an existing but filled position to accommodate the injured employee.

The identical bill was approved by the NJ Assembly 76-0 on May 20. 2021. The NJ Senate SLA Committee reported the bill out favorably on 1/29/20 3-0.

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COVID-19: A lesson for the workers’ compensation industry 5/11/2021

Is the workers' compensation system ready for the 2019-nCoV [coronavirus] virus? Live Updates

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Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author of NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (Thomson-Reuters) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (Thomson-Reuters). For over 4 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.

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Issues Update On Vaccinations

The following is shared from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission eeoc.gov 

Remote Work No Longer Mandated in NJ

NJ Governor Phil Murphy today issued Executive Order No. 243, which rescinds the requirement in Executive Order No. 107 that businesses and non-profits accommodate telework arrangements for their workforce to the maximum extent practicable and reduce their on-site staff to the minimal number necessary for their operations.  Employers bringing employees back to the physical worksite must continue to follow all applicable portions of Executive Order No. 192, including notifying employees of on-site exposure and performing health screenings of employees entering the worksite. 

VA To Expand Medical Care for Burn Pit Claims

The Secretary of the US Veterans Administration announced today a major policy change regarding burn pit exposures.

NJ Announces Intention to End COVID-19 Public Health Emergency

As New Jersey continues to make progress in the fight against COVID-19 and with state metrics continuing to trend in the right direction, Governor Phil Murphy and his Administration have begun working with Senate President Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Coughlin on legislation that will end the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency in place since March 2020, while also ensuring that the Administration retains necessary tools to manage the ongoing threat to public health, as well as recovery and vaccination efforts.

OSHA: ETS and COVID-19 - CRS issues an updated report April 2021

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) does not currently have a specific standard that protects health care or other workers from airborne or aerosol transmission of disease or diseases transmitted by airborne droplets. 

Chairwoman Adams Opening Statement at Workforce Protections Subcommittee Hearing on Protecting Workers from COVID-19

Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Chairwoman Alma Adams (NC-12) delivered the following opening statement at today’s hearing entitled, “Examining the Federal Government’s Actions to Protect Workers from COVID-19.”

Silica exposures in fracking : Over 60 percent of workers may be excessively exposed

Silica exposure ironically was were the original workers' compensation exposures brought into the model acts post enactment ( 40 years+) as a vehicle to shelter employers from liability exposures. Today's post is shared from the Pump Handle At least 1.7 million US workers are exposed to respirable crystalline silica each year, this according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). These exposures occur in a variety of industries, among them construction, sandblasting, mining, masonry,  stone and quarry work, and in the rapidly expanding method of oil and gas extraction known as hydraulic fracturing or fracking. This exposure can lead to silicosis,  an irreversible, and sometimes fatal, lung disease that is only caused by inhaling respirable silica dust. Silica exposure also puts exposed workers at risk of lung cancer, pulmonary tuberculosis and other respiratory diseases. It is also associated with autoimmune disorders, chronic kidney disease and other adverse health effects. As big a number as 1.7 million is (about 200,000 more people than currently live in Philadelphia), the “true extent of the problem is probably greater than indicated by available data,” according to NIOSH.  The CDC agency has also written, there  “are no surveillance data in the US that permit us to estimate accurately the number of individuals with silicosis.” It is against this backdrop of ongoing exposures of nearly 2 million silica-exposed workers and the serious health effects, that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has proposed a regulation to address the hazard.  One provision of the proposal would update the agency’s...

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Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson). For over 4 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.

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Reducing Worker Exposure to ETS

What better time than during the American Cancer Society’s  annual Great American Smokeout, to highlight the benefit of  comprehensive smoke-free workplaces  on the health of workers.   Furnishing a smoke-free work environment has been shown to both reduce exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) among non-smokers, and also to decrease smoking among employees.  In Massachusetts, recent surveillance findings suggest that one approach to reaching that goal – comprehensive state laws mandating smoke-free workplaces – had a measurable positive impact.  The U.S. Surgeon General reports that there is no safe level of exposure to ETS, also known as secondhand smoke (USDHHS 2006).  Workers can be exposed to ETS in their workplaces if co-workers or members of the public are permitted to smoke.   ETS causes lung cancer and heart disease, and is also linked to respiratory diseases. Not only does ETS worsen asthma but it also increases the likelihood of developing asthma. In 2004, Massachusetts became the third state behind Delaware and New York to pass a comprehensive law, banning smoking in bars, restaurants and non-hospitality workplaces.  The Massachusetts Smoke-Free Workplace Law (M.G.L. Ch. 270, § 22) requires all enclosed workplaces with one or more employees to be smoke-free. We recently presented findings from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System demonstrating that...

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