New Jersey Injury Lawyers Blog

When the job market is as tight as it is now, few workers are willing to make waves and risk losing their employment. But should workers risk their health and safety or that of their co-workers or the public just to keep a job? There are a number of laws, both on the state and federal level, intended to keep New Jersey workers safe in the workplace and free from reprisal should they refuse to perform an unsafe job.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA) are some of the laws that protect workers on the federal level. In New Jersey, workers also have the protection of the New Jersey’s Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA) and the Public Employees’ Occupational Safety and Health Act. In additional, there are a number of industry-specific statutes that also aim to protect workers under certain circumstances. (1)

Perhaps the most recognized of these laws is OSHA. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (also called OSHA) protects the employee’s right to a safe workplace by hearing complaints, performing inspections of workplaces and imposing fines on businesses found to be in violation of safety standards. (1) For example this past spring, OSHA found a West Trenton ball-bearings manufacturer guilty of 21 safety violations and fined the company $88,200. (2) Separately a New Jersey general contractor and five subcontractors were fined a total of $95,470 for 20 health and safety violations. OSHA does not, however, grant rights to employees to overtly refuse an unsafe work assignment. (3)

Reminiscent of the question which came first – the chicken or the egg, New Jersey courts recently had to deal with the dilemma of which contributed more to an Edison woman’s death – her less-than-healthy, personal lifestyle or her sedentary work conditions.

This case rose from a workers’ compensation claim filed by the widower of Cathleen Renner, a long-time employee of AT&T who died in 2007 from a pulmonary embolism. According to court reports, on the night of her death Mrs. Renner worked for more than ten hours at the computer in her home office in order to meet a pressing deadline for work. About an hour later she was dead. (1)

Mrs. Renner’s husband, James, filed a claim for death benefits under the State’s workers’ compensation law. In New Jersey, workers’ compensation insurance pays benefits to employees for illness or injury incurred in connection with their jobs. It also pays benefits to dependents of employees who die as a result of employment-related activities. (2)

A Jackson, NJ, teenager filed a lawsuit late last month in Ocean County Superior Court seeking an undivulged amount of damages in connection with a fireworks mishap that left him partially blind. That lawsuit has refueled a long-lived debate over the legality of selling fireworks to residents of states in which their use is illegal. (1)

Last summer, 19-year-old Thomas Eldershaw agreed to help a friend set off fireworks during a July 4th celebration when one of the explosives miss-fired hitting Eldershaw in the face and eye. Eldershaw suffered facial burns and was left partially blinded as a result of this accident. His lawsuit names the seller of the fireworks — Sky King Fireworks of Morrisville, PA, the manufacturer of the fireworks and the friend who purchased the fireworks. (2)

New Jersey is one of a few states that continues to ban all consumer fireworks and allows display fireworks only by permit. As a result, the sale, exposure for sale, distribution, possession and use of fireworks within the State is illegal. (3) The neighboring state of Pennsylvania, however, does allow the sale of fireworks to consumers other than Pennsylvania residents. This has allowed for the establishment of so-called “border stores,” which has long been a contention between the two states. (2)