New Jersey Raises Workers’ Comp Fees

October 4, 2023

Costs for expert reports rise

  • New Jersey the maximum workers’ compensation fees for evaluating physicians and expands circumstances for which physicians’ legal fees are permitted.
  • This bill raises the maximum fee from $600 to $1,000 for expert reports.
  • It also allows a psychologist, nurse practitioner, or licensed clinical social worker to be paid a fee for a report or testimony concerning the course of treatment.
  • It would make the most sense that any reports of exams that have not yet taken place since the signing of the bill should be awarded $1,000.
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Higher workers’ comp in New York

  • The minimum weekly pay for employees who receive workers’ compensation benefits will increase under a new state law set to go into effect next year in New York.
  • Recipients on the lowest end of the wage scale will see weekly minimum benefits increase from $150 to $275 on Jan. 1, and then increase again to $325 in 2025.
  • Starting in 2026, the weekly minimum will be pegged to one-fifth of the state’s average weekly wage.
  • The current weekly average is $1,718.15, according to the state Labor Department.
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Meat processors face scrutiny

  • Nearly a dozen meat processors face a potential class action alleging they conspired to artificially suppress workers’ compensation, a federal judge in Colorado ruled.
  • Hourly red meat processing plant workers, had shown enough evidence as a threshold matter to allow their allegations of price-fixing to move forward.
  • The judge said the workers’ evidence indicating that the meat producers exchanged data on future compensation, rather than just current wages, supported a “plausible inference” of an agreement to fix compensation.
  • The judge also ruled against the companies’ contention that the workers’ complaint fell outside of the four-year window in U.S. law to bring an antitrust claim.
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Boston worker injured after fall from roof

  • A Boston construction fell nearly 30 feet from the roof of a multi-family home in Brighton but survived
  • However, the man sustained a serious head injury after falling about 2 stories off a roof he was working on.
  • There was a stop work order from the city’s Inspectional Services Department.
  • The company, OJR Construction, said it did have a permit, but the city could not locate the paperwork.
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