Injured Workers Need More

Tuesday, June 24, 2008 | 0

By the Star-Ledger

Trenton lawmakers have made a respectable start on reforming New Jersey's ailing workers' compensation system. Bills are advancing that, among other things, will speed claims, give compensation judges more power to enforce their orders and penalize employers who don't carry the mandatory insurance.

These important overhauls are part of a broad workers' comp overhaul package that forms the most far-reaching changes to the system in decades. They are scheduled for final legislative votes tomorrow.
Every lawmaker should vote yes.

Many injured workers face indefensible delays and procedural hurdles in their quest to get medical treatment or compensation payments. Many employers flout the law requiring them to carry compensation insurance. These bills go a long way toward addressing those problems.

But legislators and Gov. Jon Corzine must not stop there.

Lawmakers and Corzine should act on a bill by Sen. Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) that would create an ombudsman's office to help injured workers navigate the arcane compensation system. And Corzine should move to have the bar association begin vetting compensation judge nominations.

The process for selecting compensation judges has long focused more on politics than legal expertise. Many comp judges are notable more for their party connections than their skill or expertise in what is a highly technical legal field.

The state can raise the caliber of comp judge nominees by using the same system that boosted the reputation of the Superior Court many years ago: The state bar reviews all Superior Court nominations to ensure that candidates have the proper qualifications. Comp judge nominations deserve the same degree of scrutiny.

So far, the governor has been surprisingly mum on this issue. A Corzine spokesman says only that the governor is reviewing the idea. Let's hope this isn't Trenton-speak for "We don't want to give up one of our major patronage plums." Workers' needs must outweigh petty political considerations.

Meanwhile, an ombudsman for injured workers would do more than simply help workers protect their legal rights and aid them in resolving delays, difficulties obtaining medical care and the like. An ombudsman would also provide broader oversight for the workers' comp system, reporting to legislators and the governor each year on the system's flaws and suggesting fixes.

Continuing attention is needed. History shows that otherwise the comp system simply isn't on Trenton radar. The current reform efforts came only after a comprehensive series of articles this spring by Star-Ledger reporters John Martin and Dunstan McNichol spotlighted the system's many flaws.

The reforms to be voted on tomorrow, together with the initiatives to improve the compensation bench and create a compensation ombudsman, will help injured workers get the aid they need more quickly and with less unnecessary red tape.

This editorial was reprinted from the Star-Ledger, a newspaper in Newark, N.J. whose series on workers' compensation reform prompted a legislative hearing on the state's system and several reform bills.