System traces its roots to the Industrial Revolution
WHAT IT IS: Workers' compensation is a no-fault insurance program that pays benefits to employees who suffer job-related injuries or illnesses. WHO IS COVERED: Workers' comp covers every employee in...
View ArticleIn Jersey, attacking fraud not 'a primary concern'
When Cory Booker became Newark mayor in July 2006, his administration discovered the city's policy had been to rarely challenge a workers' compensation claim. In the previous 2½ years, Newark had...
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Politics tangle a safety net for workers hurt on job
After losing a bare-knuckle, down-to-the-wire state Senate race four years ago, George Geist needed a new job. A former assemblyman and influential chairman of the Camden County Republican Party,...
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This wasn't supposed to happen
Anthony Bellezza Jr. spent three years as a soldier in Vietnam and a quarter-century as a policeman in Newark. In September 2003, he began working as an assistant manager at a Wawa in Lakehurst. Three...
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Still in the system: Diane Caso
Name: Diane Caso, 53, Cliffwood Beach Docket Number: 1997-07815 Year Filed: 1997 Hearings Scheduled: 60 Status: Pending. A registered nurse for 23 years at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in...
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Still in the system: Christopher Dietz
Name: Christopher V. Dietz, 71, Titusville Docket Number: Not available Year Filed: Not available Status: Pending Dietz's case is unusual in that he is a former workers' compensation judge. Dietz had...
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WAITING IN PAIN
About This Series To better understand the state's $1.8 billion workers' compensation system, The Star-Ledger spent eight months reviewing scores of cases and hundreds of state records. Citing health...
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Contractor must 'tough it out' for 7 years
Robert Messina spent most of his adult life as a laborer, first running his own landscaping business, then as a contractor in the carpenters union. Accidents were part of the job. In 1981, Messina...
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Two cases in profile
Louis Golden, 60, Roselle Docket Number: 1982-18598 Year Filed: 1982 Status: Closed In 1982, on his first night driving a taxi, Louis Golden was robbed. Four passengers stole about $30 at...
View ArticleJersey must do better by injured workers
Editorial New Jersey's nearly 100-year-old workers' compensation system is in desperate need of an overhaul. The picture in "comp court" can verge on the Dickensian: Thousands of cases become bogged...
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HOW JERSEY FAILS INJURED WORKERS
System is slow to provide relief to thousands John DeJulio, a retired veteran, fell into New Jersey's workers' compensation system when he slipped on a puddle and broke his leg at the Home Depot in...
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