A package of bills that makes significant changes to New Jersey’s workers’ compensation insurance system was signed into law by Governor Jon S. Corzine on October 1, 2008. These changes to the Workers’ Compensation Act will have an impact on how insurance carriers, attorneys and employers handle claims. A brief summary of the changes is below:

S-1913/A-2966 – Increases power of judges of compensation to enforce workers’ compensation law
S-1914/A-2967 – Strengthens enforcement against employers for failure to provide workers’ compensation coverage
S-1915/A-3059 – Requires proof of workers’ compensation coverage with certain legally required annual reports of employers
S-1916/A-2968 – Concerns emergent medical care under workers’ compensation

The Director and Chief Judge Peter Calderone has already issued procedures for the implementation of the increased power of judges to enforce workers’ compensation law and the handling of claims for emergent medical care. The most significant of these changes is a requirement in S-1916/A-2968 for carriers to designate a contact person. This bill provides that when it is certified by a physician that a worker is in need of emergent medical care that is not being provided or authorized by the employer, the worker may file a motion for emergent medical treatment with, or after the filing of, a claim petition. The motion shall also be served on the respondent or the respondent’s attorney at the time of filing. A hearing on the motion shall be scheduled within five days of the filing.
The bill requires each carrier and self-insured employer to designate a contact person to respond to issues concerning medical and temporary disability benefits where no claim petition has been filed or where a claim petition has not been answered. After an answer is filed with the division, the attorney of record for the respondent shall act as the contact person in the case. Failure to comply with this provision of the bill is subject to a fine of $2,500 for each day of noncompliance, payable to the Second Injury Fund.
The bill also updated the Designation form which must be filed with the Division. Each carrier must file this updated form even if the information has been provided to the State in the past.

S-1913/A-2966 provides that if any party to a workers’ compensation claim fails to comply with any order of a judge of compensation or any statute or regulation regarding workers’ compensation, a judge of compensation is authorized to:

1. Impose costs, simple interest on any monies due, an additional assessment not more than 25% of monies due for unreasonable payment delay, and reasonable legal fees, to enforce the order, statute or regulation;
2. Impose a penalty of not more than $1,000 for an unreasonable payment delay, to be paid into the Second Injury Fund;
3. Close proofs, dismiss a claim, suppress a defense, or exclude evidence or witnesses;
4. Refer matters to other proceedings, including to Superior Court for contempt proceedings; and;
5. Take other actions deemed appropriate by the judge of compensation with respect to the claim.

Of interest to employers is S-1914/A-2967, which strengthens enforcement of the requirement that employers provide workers’ compensation coverage, by increasing the penalties against certain employers who fail to provide coverage or fail to provide proof of coverage and imposing penalties against insurers who fail to provide required employer identification numbers when filing workers’ compensation insurance policies with the State.
Specifically, the bill:

1. Increases the level of an offense of an employer failing to provide required workers’ compensation coverage from a disorderly persons offense to a crime of the fourth degree and, if the failure is a knowing failure, from a crime of the fourth degree to a crime of the second degree, and the cases for which the higher criminal penalties apply are changed from willful failures to provide the required coverage to knowing failures to provide the required coverage;
2. Establishes a rebuttable presumption that an employer is not insured if the employer fails to provide proof of coverage when the division make a written request for proof;
3. Establishes a rebuttable presumption that an employer has established a successor firm if two firms share at least three out of nine listed characteristics;
4. Adds vice-president to the specified officers of a corporation who are liable for failure to provide coverage, and makes all indicated officers liable regardless of whether they are actively engaged in the corporate business;
5. Imposes penalties of up to $1,000 against insurers who fail to provide required employer identification numbers when filing workers’ compensation insurance policies with the State and;
6. Requires the Department of Banking and Insurance to provide to the Division of Workers’ Compensation in the Department of Labor and Workforce Development a complete list of all mutual associations and stock companies authorized to write workers’ compensation or employer’s liability insurance coverage on risks in the State. For more information regarding these important changes in workers’ compensation law, please contact the attorneys in our workers’ compensation department.
   
   E. Richard Boylan