After a newspaper investigation into the workings of the New Jersey workers' compensation, the Star-Ledger is calling for reform of a system it calls "Dickensian" and in desperate need of an overhaul. That harsh criticism comes after the newspaper completed an eight-month investigation into how injured workers' comp claims are processed and discovered that the system is bogged down in bureaucracy that keeps injured workers from getting the benefits they need and deserve. Meantime, companies that violate the rules face few penalties for doing so.Thousands of cases become bogged down for years, delaying much-needed payments to workers with the most serious injuries or disabilities. Compensation court judgeships are often treated as patronage plums, with skill and expertise taking a back seat to political connections. Meanwhile, companies that violate the legal mandate to carry workers' comp insurance to protect their employees frequently face little danger of getting caught. Even if they do, they routinely shrug off the minuscule penalties for violations as a cost of doing business.
In New Jersey, the workers' compensation backlog particularly effected workers with complex workers' comp claims - in all likelihood those who are the most severely injured and who need their benefits most.
So, what's the prescription for fixing workers' compensation in New Jersey to ensure that all injured workers receive the benefits that they deserve and in a timely manner? At least one New Jersey lawmaker, Democratic Assemblyman Neil Cohen is calling for a comprehensive performance review of the workers' comp system, the first since the early 1970s when the State Commission of Investigation conducted a probe.
Based on the newspaper's investigation, editorial writers at the Star-Ledger recommend some other concrete changes:
- Case scheduling must become more efficient so that serious delays are no longer routine for many but the simplest matters. There is no excuse for allowing hearings in a typical compensation case to be rescheduled an average of more than a dozen times. Injured workers and witnesses and employers have better things to do than return to court over and over.
- The procedure for selecting compensation judges must be strengthened to minimize the role of politics and maximize legal expertise. Comp judge candidates should be vetted by the relevant bar association, just as has long been done to ensure qualified candidates for Superior Court judgeships.
- Legislation also is needed to allow the state Labor Department, which oversees the workers' comp system, to immediately suspend the operating licenses of businesses that flout workers' comp or other labor laws. The threat of suspension will help deter the large number of firms that now ignore their responsibility to protect their employees, estimated to include as many as 40 to 60 percent of firms in construction, landscaping and some other industries.
- The Labor Department must be given the computer resources to manage workers' comp like the serious legal program it is instead of treating it like a bureaucratic and technical backwater. The department can't track basic data, such as the results in thousands of recent cases or how often employers or insurers are penalized for violating the law.
- Comp judges must have better tools to discipline insurance companies or others who deliberately drag out cases or payments. Judges now can do little more than add interest payments to an insurer's bill. Fines and other sanctions are needed to bring recalcitrant payers into line.
The $1.8 billion workers' compensation system drew attention last year, when lawmakers overhauling the state's retirement system for public employees canceled a special provision that gave workers' comp judges generous pensions after only 10 years on the job
