Politics as Usual: Eight New Comp Judges Appointed in NJ
Despite the recession, WC claims filed in New Jersey
have been surprisingly steady. So why is New Jersey
getting eight new comp judges, most of whom have
never stepped foot in WC court?
New Jersey’s manufacturing, construction, farm, and trade employment has shrunk every year for the past two decades. The drop in claim petitions filed has followed this trend over the past two decades: from 53,637 new claim petitions filed in 1990 to only 35,566 new formal claim petitions filed in 2007.
Despite the worsening recession, 2009 saw about 35,000 new claims filed - which is in line with 2008’s filings. The gross number of filed claim petitions is likely to fall in 2009-2010, but this is more likely indicative of the general trend of job loss in high-risk industries like manufacturing and construction.
The big question is - with the population of new claims slowly but steadily declining year over year - and with that decline projected to continue, why did outgoing Governor Corzine appoint eight new WC judges?
The answer is: Politics as usual.
New Jersey’s manufacturing, construction, farm, and trade employment has shrunk every year for the past two decades. The drop in claim petitions filed has followed this trend over the past two decades: from 53,637 new claim petitions filed in 1990 to only 35,566 new formal claim petitions filed in 2007.
Despite the worsening recession, 2009 saw about 35,000 new claims filed - which is in line with 2008’s filings. The gross number of filed claim petitions is likely to fall in 2009-2010, but this is more likely indicative of the general trend of job loss in high-risk industries like manufacturing and construction.
The big question is - with the population of new claims slowly but steadily declining year over year - and with that decline projected to continue, why did outgoing Governor Corzine appoint eight new WC judges?
The answer is: Politics as usual.
Governors have long used the workers’ compensation bench to reward loyal donors and friends. According to Chief Judge Calderone “the new judges create serious administrative problems.” Simply stated, the Division of Workers’ Compensation has no where to put all of these new judges - there is a lack of courtroom space and administrative staff (according to Calderone). Worse, the newly-hired judges come from all over New Jersey - and assigning these Judges must take into consideration long commute times.
Chief Judge Calderone stated that current sitting Judges will spend less time on the bench - by taking a mandatory “extra office day” per week - to give the newly-hired Judges something to do. In other words, to make work for the new Judges, the veteran Judges will be given mandatory “rest days.”
We can also expect that current assignments will be shuffled and that the average number of cases on any one docket will be reduced.
