The Rise and Fall of Workers' Compensation - The Path to Federalization

Every year The Board of Trustees of the Federal Hospital Insurance and Federal Supplemental Medical Supplemental Medical Insurance Trust Funds makes an actuarial guess as to the future financial solvency of Medicare. The report creates an annual news frenzy in the workers’ compensation community since Medicare is both the safety net for injured workers and playground for employers and their insurance companies to use in cost shifting,

UPS Driver Prevails on Repetitive Trauma Injury

The NJ Court of Appeals, in an unreported decision, has upheld the compensability of a repetitive traumatic condition asserted by a United Parcel Service (UPS) truck driver who for 39 years drove vehicles with poor suspension and hitched trailers together at depots.

Employer-Reported Workplace Injuries and Illnesses Continue to Decline

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)  has reported that there were approximately 2.9 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses reported by private industry employers in 2015, which occurred at a rate of 3.0 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers.

Opioid Litigation and Workers' Compensation

The newly initiated litigation by public entities against Big Pharma may prove to be a huge boost to the workers' compensation system. The lawsuits have the potential curtailing a massive drain of benefit dollars and may provide for subrogation as a result of the nations' opioid epidemic.

An Injury to All

Governor Chris Christie (R) has issued an Executive Order closing the NJ Division of Workers' Compensation. Christie, who is the most unpopular Governor in the US, with a 15% approval rating, has decided now, in his remaining few months in office, to get into yet another political squabble with the Democratic legislative majority.

OSHA proposes to delay compliance date for electronically submitting injury, illness reports

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration today proposed a delay in the electronic reporting compliance date of the rule, Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses, from July 1, 2017, to Dec. 1, 2017. The proposed delay will allow OSHA an opportunity to further review and consider the rule.

Employment Status: Common Law Tests May Need an Update

The application of the common-law standard to determine employment status may no longer be relevant in the age of the gig economy. The NJ Appellate Division ruled that the common law test utilized to determine employment status could not be utilized in the interpretation of a medical malpractice insurance policy.