Reading Room

 The battlefield for the assault on state workers’ compensation programs has shifted from the state capitals to the halls of Congress. Industry and their insurers are now shifting gears from an attempt at tinkering with individual systems to a more generalized approach, where assets and energies can be concentrated uniformly through Federal modification of globalized issues that will place into jeopardy the rights of workers and significantly hamper the efforts of their attorneys in seeking recovery under state workers’ compensation systems. 

The New Jersey Supreme Court, struggling to maintain the remedial social aspects of the Workers’ Compensation Act, adopted a liberal “quantification of disability” rule to determine the Statute of Limitations date to be utilized in occupational disease claims.

The NJ Supreme Court has ruled that employees have 90 days to notify their employers after the diagnosis of an occupational disease. A claim for workers’ compensation benefits may be barred if the employee fails to notify his employer.

The 1996 court term set forth standards for occupational disease claims, defined defenses available, provided interpretation regarding third-party liens, further defined standards to be utilized in the presentation of evidence, and set forth parameters concerning the nature and extent of disability under the Workers' Compensation Act. 

In a decision that could open the doors to lawsuits by employees harmed by exposure to secondhand smoke or other indirect hazards in the workplace, an appeals court Tuesday upheld benefits for a West Milford custodian who died of cancer after exposure to asbestos in a school.In a decision that could open the doors to lawsuits by employees harmed by exposure to secondhand smoke or other indirect hazards in the workplace, an appeals court Tuesday upheld benefits for a West Milford custodian who died of cancer after exposure to asbestos in a school.  

Sometimes an employee may be permitted to sue an employer for negligence or for intentional harm.

Families of asbestos workers who have direct asbestos exposure have been implicated in various diseases, including mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis.

A federal jury in Newark has awarded $5.8 million in compensatory damages to a widow, and her two sons , whose husband died of mesothelioma.

In an era of heightened technological sophistication, the Division of Workers' Compensation is increasingly faced with the necessity to apportion responsibility among successive employers or insurance carriers when dealing with occupational disease claims. 

A worker is suing his World War II employer for damages in connection with the death of his wife, claiming that she died from mesothelioma cause by asbestos particles from his job.