by NJLawyer | May 23, 2020 | Accident Cases, Contagious Disease, Coronavirus, Covid 19
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy issued an Executive Order in March which made grocery stores, delivery personnel, and others, Essential Workers which required them to continue working at their jobs. For Grocery workers and delivery personnel having a job was good news because many of their friends and neighbors were being laid off because of the State’s Stay At Home policy designed to slow the exponential spread of Covid 19 corona virus and prevent Hospitals from being overwhelmed by Covid 19 patients.
After the Federal Government provided an additional $600.00 per week in Unemployment benefits as part of a stimulus package, staying home did not seem so bad especially for grocery workers who were on the frontline and being exposed to frantic shoppers wanting to make sure they stocked up on groceries. Delivery personnel were not dealing as directly with customers but they were also exposed to cardboard boxes and plastic containers which have been identified as potential carriers of Covid 19 corona virus. Working under nerve-racking conditions the Grocery store and delivery personnel continued to do their jobs.
As previously reported on NJAccident.com, the New Jersey Legislature fortuitous passed the Thomas P. Canzanella First Responder Protection Act last July (2019), which provided Public Safety Workers with a presumption of compensability for among other things viral epidemics. The law makes it easier for Public Safety Workers which include police, fire, Emergency Medical Technicians, nurses, and doctors to obtain Workers Compensation benefits if they contract the Covid 19 corona virus.
What Benefits Are There Under NJ Workers Compensation Law
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by NJLawyer | May 11, 2020 | Accident Cases, Contagious Disease, Coronavirus, Covid 19
Governor Phil Murphy deemed in Executive Orders certain individuals as essential workers. Those essential workers went beyond public safety workers and included individuals who work in grocery stores, pharmacies, restaurants, gas stations, delivery personnel and financial institutions including banks. Last year, the New Jersey Legislature passed the Thomas Canzanella 21st Century First Responders Act (hereinafter First Responders Act) which provides public safety workers, as defined by the statute, a presumption that if the worker contracts a serious communicable disease or related illness, like COVID 19 Coronovirus, that it is deemed by law to be related to their job. This is a crucial designation that opens up the right to obtain Workers Compensation benefits which include temporary disability benefits, payment of medical bills, and a monetary award based on a percentage of permanency due to the virus.
As currently defined, public safety workers do not include grocery store workers, pharmacy workers, restaurant workers, gas station workers, delivery personnel, and financial institutions or bank workers. These workers although deemed “essential workers” are not currently contained within the definition of “Public safety workers” in the First Responders Act.
What does this mean for Essential Workers?
The current New Jersey version of the First Responders Act does not provide the presumption to all essential workers. The current version provides the presumption that its related to their job if you are a police or fire department worker, correction facility officer or employee, EMT, nurse, or advanced medical technicians.
All other “essential workers” could potentially be entitled to benefits under the state’s workers’ compensation law but without the presumption, in place, the worker would have to establish a connection between the employment and the illness. It is not an insurmountable burden but workers compensation insurance carriers are more likely to deny the claim on the onset and make the essential service worker prove that their illness “arose out of or in the course of their employment.” Since the Coronavirus COVID 19 can infect a person outside of work and can be acquired from an asymptomatic person, the advantage goes to the workers’ compensation carrier defending a claim who can point to such medical evidence and even if there are other co-workers infected with COVID 19 Coronavirus, a denial can be justified as not being in bad faith.
Occupational Injury Cases A Possible Avenue to Benefits
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by NJLawyer | May 3, 2020 | Accident Cases, Contagious Disease, Coronavirus, Covid 19
On July 8, 2019, before the Covid 19 Cornonvirus pandemic hit the State of New Jersey hard, the New Jersey Legislature passed the Thomas Canzanella 21st Century First Responders Act. The legislation provides Workers Compensation benefits to public safety workers which have been broadly defined. The Legislation, however, did not envision at the time it was passed that an epidemic would require not only the assistance of public safety workers but frontline grocery and delivery workers. The New Jersey Legislature is considering legislation to expand worker compensation coverage to those frontline workers as well.
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by NJLawyer | Feb 28, 2020 | Accident Cases
NJ
Accident previously reported on the 2018 Route 80 school bus accident that
resulted in the death of a teacher and a student along with multiple injuries
to other students and staff on the school bus.
The bus driver Hudy Muldrow Sr. pleaded guilty to reckless vehicular
homicide, assault by auto and child endangerment this past December
(2019). The maximum penalty was 10 years
in Jail and that is the sentence that was imposed by the Superior Court Judge
sitting in the Morris County Courthouse in Morristown, New Jersey this week.
A
school trip turned very tragic when a lead bus missed an exit on Route 80
resulting in a delay in reaching the field trips destination. Mr. Muldrow who was following the lead bus
made a decision to take a shortcut by utilizing an Official Vehicle turnaround
in the middle median rather than go a substantial distance to the next Exit and
turnaround. A turnaround used only by
State Police officers in the performance of their duties. To get to the turnaround,
Mr. Muldrow would have to traverse three lanes of traffic in a short distance
from the entry ramp onto Route 80. What
possessed Mr. Muldrow to attempt such a feat is unknown but his actions changed
the lives of many persons as a Dump Truck traveling on Route 80, not expecting
a school bus to attempt such a maneuver could not stop in time and hit the bus’
rear with such force that it separated the cab portion of the bus from its
frame. A roadway video camera captured
the maneuver and the moment of impact exonerating the Dump Truck driver. The
accident took the lives of Jennifer Williamson, a 51-year-old teacher along
with a Miranda Vargas, a 10-year-old student on the bus. Williamson’s husband
and Vargas’ twin sister and mother spoke prior to sentencing.
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