Compensability
Partial Responsibility for Parking Lot by Employer Results in Compensable Claim
In Giordano v. High Point Insurance Company, No. A-4971-14T3 (App. Div. October 11, 2016), Michelle Giordano, an employee of High Point Insurance Company, was injured in a parking lot adjacent to a multi-tenant office building. After parking in the lot, she fell on twigs and debris, injuring her right shoulder. Her employer denied the claim based […]
Understanding George v. Great Eastern Food Products
The case that generates more questions than any other in this practitioner’s experience is George v. Great Eastern Food Products, Inc., 44 N.J. 44 (1965) regarding idiopathic claims. This case comes into play any time that an employee falls for reasons unknown and suffers an injury caused by the fall itself. Countless employers have had […]
Convent Found To Be Employer of Cook and Required To Reimburse Diocese for Medical and Temporary Disability Payments Voluntarily Paid by Diocese
Consider this situation: Company A voluntarily pays approximately $172,000 in medical and temporary disability benefits to Worker. Company A demands reimbursement from Company B believing that Company B is the true employer. Worker never files a claim petition against Company A or B. Can Company A file a claim petition in the name of Worker […]
Court Rejects Petitioner’s Request For Shoulder Surgery on Second Reopener
Just because an employer accepts an injury to a body member as part of an award does not mean that all future treatment to that body member will be found work related. That is the rule in Daniel v. United Airlines, No. A-1252-14, 2016 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 1816 (App. Div. August 2, 2016). Petitioner, […]
Appellate Division Allows Comp Retaliation Case To Proceed To Jury
Workers’ compensation retaliation claims are rare birds in New Jersey, and the case of Robinson v. Armadillo Automation, Inc. explains the standard for proving such cases. Spencer Robinson worked as a valve technician from May 2005 until August 2011. He alleged that when he was hired, he disclosed a prior low back condition, and he […]
Second Hand Smoke Cancer Claim Is Barred For Late Filing
In Pulejo v. Middlesex County Consumer Affairs, A-3133-14T4 (App. Div. July 14, 2016), the petitioner, an investigator for the County, alleged that he worked along side a chain smoker four to five hours per day, five days per week, from 1976 to 1997. Mr. Pulejo was diagnosed in 2000 with lung cancer and underwent a bilobectomy. Mr. […]
Appellate Division Sides With Petitioner in Dispute Over Compensability on Motion Trial
It can be difficult to predict the outcome of appeals where the issue before the Judge of Compensation is credibility of witnesses as opposed to pure legal issues. In Frank Hodson v. C. Abbonizio Contractors, Inc., A-2083-14T3 (App. Div. May 2, 2016), Mr. Hodson said that while working as a laborer on May 9 and […]
Are You Covered for Comp When You Tear Your Knee Playing for the Company Softball Team or Dancing at the Holiday Party?
Most employers have some recreational or social activities throughout the year, and unfortunately, injuries tend to occur at these events. There used to be so many of these kinds of claims that the New Jersey Legislature enacted new legislation in 1980 under N.J.S.A. 34:15-7, which provides that recreational and social activities do not arise from […]
Assault Committed by Ex-Husband in Employer Owned Parking Lot Found Not Compensable
Jennie Rosario worked for the State of New Jersey as a caseworker for the Division of Youth and Family Services. She left the Division’s Maplewood office intending to get into a State-owned vehicle on May 23, 2006 to perform her duties as a field case-worker. As she was leaving the office, her ex-husband assaulted her […]
Can an Employer Fire an Injured Employee on Light Duty and Then Stop Paying Temporary Disability Benefits?
In an extension of the principle established in Cunningham v. Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Co., 386 N.J. Super. 423 (App. Div. 2006), the Appellate Division ruled on January 22, 2016 that an employee who was fired while on light duty was not entitled to temporary disability benefits because the firing was not related to […]
Plaintiff and Her Husband Could Not Sue Plaintiff’s Employer for Assault and Battery and Sexual Harassment
Rose Fonrose Louis worked at a Burger King restaurant in the Monmouth Mall in Eatontown, N.J. On August 29, 2008, Louis was working in a walk-in freezer when an assistant manager, Hany Salib, followed her into the freezer and proceeded to touch her breast and buttocks through her clothes, kissing her neck, and attempting to […]
Court Finds Popping Incident in Low Back While Walking Not Work Related
Colleen Fitzgerald filed a claim petition alleging that on April 26, 2010 she was walking down an alley as a zone merchandising supervisor for Walmart, when she suddenly felt a “pop” in her lower back. She admitted that she was simply walking at the time the incident occurred. However, prior to this popping incident she […]
Court Finds Assault by Coemployee at Work Not Compensable but Rooted in a Pyramid Investment Scheme Involving the Two Employees
Most assaults by an employee on another employee on work premises are compensable for the victim of the assault, but the facts in Joseph v. Monmouth County, A-4144-13T3 (App. Div. December 14, 2015) were most unusual. Lesley Joseph was a nursing supervisor at a Monmouth County owned nursing home. On June 9, 2011, Mr. Joseph […]
Appellate Division Affirms Denial of Workers’ Comp Benefits to Owner of Business Based on His Misrepresentations Regarding Nature of His Company’s Business and Its Legal Status
Samuel Roman formed Treeminator Tree Services, Inc. in 2007. By 2012 he and his girlfriend, Sandra Flores, were both employees along with two others. In 2009 Roman sought workers’ compensation coverage with NJM for Treeminator Tree Service, LLC, a company with no employees and engaged in landscaping work but not tree trimming. He obtained the […]
Employee Who Came to Work Solely to Pick up His Paycheck Was Not Covered for Comp When He Fell on Premises
Robert Miller worked as customer service and bookkeeping associate at Saker Shoprite from 4:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. On January 29, 2010, Miller came to work to pick up his paycheck at 10:00 a.m. The store allowed employees to do direct deposit or to pick up their paychecks in person. While he went in to […]
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