New Jersey Workers' Comp Blog - A blog about New Jersey workers’ compensation law. Blog

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Employer Which Discovered Material Misrepresentations Years Later On Post-Offer Form Properly Terminated Employee For Dishonesty

Many employers utilize post-offer medical examinations as part of their hiring process to screen out potential employees who cannot perform the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodation. Sometimes, however, the value of a post-offer medical examination does not come to light until long after hiring. In Reilly v. Lehigh Valley Hospital, 27 [...]

May 16, 2013

ADA

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Tenth Circuit Court Of Appeals Finds Employer Properly Rejected Request For Telecommuting And Additional FMLA Leave

In Valdez v. Brent McGill and Mueller Supply Company, Inc., 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 2783 (10th Cir. 2012), the court considered whether a request for telecommuting and additional leave was a reasonable accommodation. Doyle Brown worked as a warehouse supervisor for Mueller Supply Company. He supervised Mueller’s warehouse, including all shipping and receiving. He advised [...]

May 2, 2013

ADA, FMLA

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Appellate Court Affirms City’s Termination Of Police Officer For Failing To Take Drug Test And Dismisses Workers’ Compensation Retaliation Claim

John Lance, a police officer for the City of Camden, New Jersey, was injured on May 10, 2004 in a work-related motor vehicle accident. He received medical and temporary disability benefits in workers’ compensation. However, he alleged that his workers’ compensation benefits were improperly terminated in October 2005. On June 12, 2004, about a month [...]

Apr 26, 2013

Retaliation

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Door Remains Closed On All But The Most Egregious Suits For Intentional Harm In New Jersey

It is certainly not for lack of trying that plaintiffs remain largely unsuccessful in opening the door to intentional harm claims in New Jersey. The door has remained closed in the past 10 years on intentional harm claims and all but locked, including the most recent challenge in Fendt v. Adam L. Abrahams, et. al., [...]

Apr 17, 2013

Intentional Harm

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School Bus Driver’s Injury After Cleaning School Bus At Home Was Covered Under Comp

Walesca Benvenutti worked for Scholastic Bus Company as a school bus driver. She drove children to school in the morning and then drove them home in the afternoon. She was required to clean the bus interior and inspect the seatbelts after each run. The testimony of both petitioner and her employer was that there was [...]

Apr 9, 2013

Premises Liability

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Department of Labor Provides Intepretation of Standards for Leave to Care for Adult Son or Daughter Under FMLA

Employers should be aware that interpretation of being incapable of self-care and having a disability are very broad. The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) is having an impact in other areas of law, specifically the FMLA. A good example concerns the FMLA provision for leave to care for an adult son or daughter [...]

Apr 4, 2013

FMLA

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Award Affirmed For Mechanic With Longstanding Back Problem Found To Have Been Worsened By Twisting Motion

Edward Kovalcik worked as a maintenance mechanic at Capital Health-Fuld. He was injured in February 2011 while repairing a door. He said that he twisted to pick up a screw and injured his low back. Dr. Lee Buono, a neurosurgeon at the hospital, came to the scene of the injury and observed Kovalcik writhing in [...]

Mar 28, 2013

Causation

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Fourth Circuit Holds Pregnant UPS Employee With Lifting Restrictions Was Not Covered Under ADA When Company Prevented Her From Working With Lifting Restriction

Peggy Young worked for United Parcel Services (UPS) as a delivery truck driver. She became pregnant in 2006 and was given a restriction from her doctor indicating that she should not lift more than 20 pounds for the first 20 twenty weeks of her pregnancy and no more than 10 pounds thereafter. Later her midwife reiterated the 20 [...]

Mar 22, 2013

ADA, PDA

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Employee Who Waited Too Long to Inform Employer of Injury Was Barred From Compensation

Few New Jersey workers’ compensation cases turn on the issue of notice under N.J.S.A. 34:15-17 simply because the New Jersey statute allows up to 90 days in most instances to report a traumatic injury. The case of Ader v. Lebanon Township, A-0383-11T2 (App.Div.March 11, 2013) focused on this section of the law and whether there [...]

Mar 13, 2013

Knowledge Interpretation

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Does An Employer Owe Temp Benefits In New Jersey If The Employee Cannot Work One Job But Is Still Working Another?

Clients ask about the following scenario frequently: Bob injures his low back working for Company A on January 1, 2013, arising out of and in the course of employment. He earns $400 per week working 20 hours per week. Company A pays temp benefits at $280 per week, and the authorized doctor indicates that Bob [...]

Mar 4, 2013

Temporary Disability Benefits, Uncategorized