Workers’ compensation benefits will increase to a maximum of $650.00 per week in 2004 from the present weekly benefit of $638. payable in 2003. Injured workers will receive these benefits while they are out of work and under authorized medical care. Temporary workers’ compensation benefits are based upon the state average weekly wage (SAWW). The temporary workers’ compensation rate is set at 75% of the SAWW. Since 1980 benefits have risen each year. Workers’ Compensation benefits are not subject to Federal income tax.

California Leads in Making Employer Pay for Job Deaths - Sick and Getting Sicker (Editorial) - Los Angeles Times 
--When Workers Die (Part 2 of 3): U.S. Rarely Seeks Charges for Deaths in Workplace - New York Times --When Workers Die (Part 1 of 3): A Trench Caves In; a Young Worker Is
Dead. Is It a Crime?

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced an interim final rule that implements a law Congress passed earlier this year to identify and compensate people injured as a result of receiving a smallpox vaccine.

December 1,2003, not approved for publication. Dismissal of the employees petition for benefits for injuries sustained as the result of an assault on him by a co-worker reversed and remanded for the determination of benefits; the co-worker assaulted the employee after the employee had made “some insulting comments and gestures” to the co-worker earlier in the day and just before the assault: the judge of compensation concluded that, while the assault occurred on the job, it did not arise out of the employment; however, what occurred was “both integral and incidental to the conditions of employment,” and it was no different from other “horseplay eases~~ in which benefits were allowed; therefore, the assault arose out of the employment.

 Letter of the Workplace Injury Litigation Group - New Jersey to Director/Chief Judge Peter J. Calderone-Thank you for giving our organization, The Workplace Injury Litigation Group - New Jersey (WILG-NJ), the opportunity to review and comment upon the proposed changes to the rules guiding the New Jersey Division of Workers' Compensation (NJDWC). 

The remarks of politician/physician Sen. Bill Frist before the Senate show him to be so ill-informed about asbestos disease as to make one wonder if he has ever read a medical journal, let alone familiarized himself with the ins and outs of the asbestos litigation. 

STRESS CLAIMS DUE TO COMPUTER SPAM. The BBC reports today on the rising liability of companies to employees who suffer distress due to offensive spam. 

On December 1, 2003, Peter J. Calderone, Director and Chief Judge circuited Pre-Proposal drafts of new Rules that would increase the burdens petitioners have to prosecute their claims. 

New Jersey lawyers choose the tops in their profession in 24 fields of law.

CALIFORNIA - THE DISMATLING OF THE SYSTEM Schwarzenegger convenes special session on workers’ comp Displaying his priorities as the new governor of ...

  When used properly, pesticides offer a variety of benefits to society. They increase crop production, preserve produce, combat insect infestations, and control exotic species. However, pesticides also have the potential for causing harm. Approximately one billion pounds of pesticide active ingredient are used annually in the U.S., and over 20,000 pesticide products are being marketed in the U.S.

The bankruptcy proceedings and liquidations of both insurance cai-riers and self-insured employers have created nationwide disruptions and problems in the handling of workers’ compensation cases. In New Jersey, the Department of Banking and Insurance is directly responsible for maintaining the guarantee funds and for reassigning claims in these situations. 

 A BILL To amend the Medicare Secondary Payer Act(42 U.S.C. § 1395y(b), et seq.)

911 COMPENSATION PROGRAM FAILS--Mount Sinai's Dr. Stephen Levin said most of his Ground Zero patients have been denied workers' compensation coverage. He called the system "dysfunctional."

For the last few decades, the most compelling issue in an occupational disease case has been the manner in which the workers’ compensation court shoul...

THE CALIFORNIA CRISIS. Attracting Private Specialty Carriers to California Will Stabilize the Workers' Compensation Crisis . The California workers' compensation system is broken .

CALIFORNIA MELTDOWN CONTINUES--Garamendi Takes On Workers' Comp Reforms--"Lawyers and doctors in all too many cases are abusing the system," he said. California's insurance chief, saying the Legislature's recent overhaul of the state's workers' compensation system was "inadequate," on Wednesday called for additional reforms including further cutbacks to outpatient surgical centers and a crackdown on costly litigation

In our great state of California today there is perhaps no greater peril to jobs and future economic growth than the burden of our broken workers’ compensation system. Soaring costs led Costco Wholesale Corp. to seriously consider moving some of its 29,000 jobs out of California. Before that, premium increases drove Buck Knives to Idaho in search of relief. I recently learned that the Los Angeles Unified School District’s workers’ compensation costs are so high that the premiums could pay for 10,000 new teachers

 Jon Gelman's Presentation Remarks to Lois J.Gregory. This is presented to Lois J. Gregory in recognition and of the many years she has served as Senior Deputy Attorney General of the State of New Jersey representing the Second Injury Fund. Her high level of professionalism, as well as her wisdom, intellect and friendship have been warmly appreciated by the New Jersey Workers’ Compensation bench and bar. 

Female flight attendants are more likely to experience disruptions in circadian rhythm - the body clock—than a comparison group of women who do not frequently fly, and the disruptions are linked with flights across different time zones, a new study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) suggests.