News You Can Use

by Dunstan McNichol/The Star-Ledger
Thursday June 19, 2008, 12:16 PM
State lawmakers today advanced a bill designed to help thousands of injured workers facing lengthy delays for treatment and benefits under New Jersey's workers compensation insurance system.

The proposal would require officials to consider the most pressing claims within 10 days and was endorsed 5-0 by the Senate Labor Committee this morning.

The committee also advanced two other workers compensation reform bills: One would require all companies to include proof of workers compensation coverage with their annual corporation reports. The other authorizes the Attorney General's office to investigate employers who skirt state law requiring workers compensation coverage.

The measures are among six reform bills moving through the Legislature in the wake of an April Star-Ledger report that showed how bureaucratic red tape, uncooperative insurers and political entanglements have left thousands of workers waiting months and even years for benefits from workers compensation.

Employers are required by law to purchase workers compensation insurance to guarantee medical treatment and replacement wages to employees who get hurt on the job. Employers each year pay about $1.8 billion in premiums for the coverage, while insurers pay out about $1.3 billion in benefits annually, state records show.

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