Bill Threatens Employer Choice of Physician in Workers' Compensation Cases
New Jersey's workers' compensation program for treating employees with job-related injuries is the envy of many states, whose own programs are experiencing double-digit increases in insurance premiums. However, new state legislation threatens to undermine our successful efforts to contain workers' comp costs.

A-3715 (Impreveduto, DiGaetano) would strip New Jersey employers of their right to choose the physician and medical services used in workers' compensation cases. If enacted, employees would be free to use any medical provider-without regard to their experience, skills or credibility in treating the specific workplace injury or illness. "Employer choice of physician" has worked well for both the employer and injured worker. New Jersey companies are able to select physicians with a track record of diagnosing and treating injuries effectively and, as a result, see recovered employees return to work more quickly. This has helped bring down the cost of workers' compensation premiums significantly in recent years. This approach has also succeeded in providing employees high-quality care at a reasonable price and allowed the system to offer consistently higher disability benefits each year. Under New Jersey's workers' compensation law, an employer is responsible for providing medical care to an injured worker. There is no justification for altering that law and hindering the employer's ability to discharge that responsibility. A-3715 threatens the ability of all New Jersey employers to control their workers' compensation costs. It would undermine a system that values high-quality care and prompt recovery for the worker and expose it to increased fraud and abuse. NJBIA members should share their opposition to A-3715 with the sponsors and with members of the Assembly Labor Committee. For more information, contact Jeff Stoller at jeffstoller@njbia.org.

Contractors May Seek Damages for Delays
On August 8, Acting Governor Donald DiFrancesco signed legislation to help lower the cost of public construction projects. A-2913 (Arnone, Impreveduto)/ S-1751 (Palaia) enables New Jersey contractors to seek reimbursement for delays in local projects that are not their fault. NJBIA supported the bill, along with the Utility & Transportation Contractors Association and other leading contractor groups. Until now, school districts and local governments could add "no damage for delay" clauses to contracts in order to avoid paying for delays they themselves caused. Typical delays included problems with required permits or a failure to purchase all of the necessary property or right-of-ways for a project. Contractors were unfairly forced to absorb the cost of these delays, over which they had no control. Taxpayers inevitably paid more for public projects, due to the frequent legal disputes that resulted. Bids on public construction also increased as contractors began to add in extra money to cover their liability for unexpected delays. Under the new law, New Jersey contractors will be able to submit claims for the added cost of delays caused by the contracting school districts or local governments.

Global Center Plans Fall Breakfasts
The Center for Global Business at Mercer County Community College (West Windsor campus) will host four new "Business over Breakfast" meetings this fall. Each session will focus on a key functional area of exporting on the Thursdays listed below. For more information, please call Mr. Keld Hansen at 609-586-4800, ext. 3639.

September 13, International Financing;
October 11, Intercultural Differences;
November 15, International Legal Issues;
December 13, International Distribution Systems.

The US Labor Department announced on April 11 that it would rescind a Clinton-era move to reinterpret the Labor-Management Reporting & Disclosure Act (LMRDA). Organized labor had attempted to force employers to disclose expenditures relating to labor relations advice by changing rules that had been in place since 1962. If enacted, the LMRDA amendments would have made it more difficult for employers to respond to union organizing efforts.

Bush Pushes for Free Trade Zone for the Americas
President Bush has proposed the establishment of the world's largest free trade zone, encompassing most of North, Central and South America. The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) would include 34 countries with a total population of 800 million and a combined economic output of $11 trillion. South America alone represents an export market for the U.S. that is four times larger than its current export market in China. The FTAA would gradually dismantle nontariff barriers between the participating nations. The plan would also phase out import tariffs among the FTAA countries over the course of ten years. An official text for the trade agreement was released on July 3, 2001. It can be reviewed online at www.ftaaalca.org/ftaadraft/eng/draft_e.doc.
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‘Smart Moves' Can Ease Your Commute
Are you sick of sitting in traffic? Do you wish you could ride the train to work? Many of New Jersey's employers are teaming up with the Department of Transportation's voluntary Smart Moves for Business Program. This program offers choices for employees who are fed up with sitting in traffic jams. The variety of options includes vanpooling, rideshare matching, bicycle promotion, and strategies to give preferential parking or rides home to employees. Companies can benefit through tax incentives, funding grants, and increased employee productivity. To learn more about these solutions or to sign your company up, visit www.state.nj.us/njcommuter.

Join NJBIA's Trade Information Network
NJBIA encourages members with an interest in international trade to add their names to our Trade Information Network list. Network members will receive a quarterly newsletter, e-mail alerts and Web site updates on trade news, overseas trade fairs and trade missions visiting the New Jersey region. Send your name, title, company, address, phone, fax and e-mail to Sara Bluhm at sbluhm@njbia.org or fax to 609-695-9597.

Work-Family Bill Avoids Paid Family Leave Mandate
Legislation to create a New Jersey Commission on Work and Family, S-1761 (Allen, Kosco), was revised June 28 to eliminate language that would have allowed the Commission to advocate untested workplace policies, such as paid family leave, for private employers. The revised bill creates a $1 million commission within the NJ Department of Labor. It will collect data on workplace policies that help employees balance work and family obligations, serve as a clearinghouse for information on employer best practices, and oversee a pilot program to test new policies in three state agencies. The Commission will not recommend any changes to workplace laws and regulations affecting private sector employers. S-1761 awaits action by the full Senate. Its Assembly companion bill, A-3652 (Heck, Felice), must be amended to match the Senate version. NJBIA neither supports nor opposes S-1761. Employers should contact members of the Assembly Labor Committee and the sponsors to insist that no action be taken on A-3652 until it is amended to match the revised Senate bill.

THE LAW AT WORK
Policy Specific Acknowledgment
Forms Are Critical To Employers
By Mark J. Manta, Esq. Most New Jersey employers already understand the importance of having new employees sign acknowledgment forms upon receipt of their employment handbooks. This form typically states that the employee has read and understands the policies in the handbook. More importantly, this form reiterates the employee's understanding that: 1) the handbook is not intended to and does not constitute a binding contract; and 2) the employee's relationship with their employer is at-will and can be terminated at any time, with or without notice or cause. Because New Jersey courts readily construe handbooks as contracts, these acknowledgment forms are almost as indispensable to employers as disclaimers when defending breach of contract cases. What many employers overlook is the critical need to have acknowledgment forms pertaining to specific employment policies. An acknowledgment form for a harassment policy is especially important due to the employer's ability to reduce its potential liability by taking measures aimed at eliminating harassment. At a minimum, an acknowledgment form for a harassment policy should state that: 1) the employee understands the provisions of the harassment policy, 2) the employee agrees to abide by the policy, and 3) the employee will notify their employer if they believe that unlawful harassment has occurred. Ideally, the acknowledgment forms should be provided to employees with copies of the harassment policy at the time of employee training on the policy. In this case, the form should also acknowledge that the employee received training regarding the policy. After training takes place and the employees sign the acknowledgment forms, the employer should collect the forms and maintain them in employee personnel files. Employers realize multiple benefits by having employees sign these forms. When facing charges of unlawful harassment, the employer's goal is to show both that it maintained a policy prohibiting harassment and that the complaining employee failed to take reasonable steps under the policy to notify their employer of the harassment. It becomes increasingly difficult for an employee to challenge either of these arguments when a document exists that is signed by the employee acknowledging both the existence of the policy and the employee's duty to inform their employer of all potential incidents of harassment. Acknowledgment forms from coworkers of the complaining employee may also prove beneficial. Consider a case where the employee alleging harassment claims that their environment was altered not by harassment directed at them, but by harassment targeted at a coworker. If the coworker signed an acknowledgment form that they would inform the company of any harassment of which they were aware and they never complained of harassment, it will be harder for them to prove that they were the victim of harassment. Moreover, if the complaining employee signed a similar form, they, too, will need to explain why they did not previously report the alleged harassment against the coworker. In summary, acknowledgment forms are powerful weapons for employers in the battle against harassment claims. Prudent employers will have employees sign acknowledgment forms pertaining to their most significant policies.

Mark Manta is a shareholder with the law firm of Klett Rooney Lieber & Schorling in the firm's Trenton office. Mr. Manta's main practice area is with the firm's Labor and Employment Group. Klett, Rooney, Lieber & Schorling has offices throughout New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware servicing a variety of clients including Fortune 500 corporations, privately held companies, partnerships and institutions, as well as individuals. Their businesses and interests range from banking and finance to real estate, professional sports, health care, technology and labor law.

NJ ECONOMY: Employment Decline Continues
In First Seven Months of 2001 NJ Loses 17,900 Private-Sector Jobs See Charts Below New Jersey's private sector continued to shed jobs in July with a loss of 5,200 positions, extending what has become the state's worst employment downturn since 1992. Despite the employment decline, the New Jersey economy continues to exhibit strength and is not thought to be in a recession. The NJ Department of Labor reports that the private sector as a whole, which includes all nongovernment employers, has shrunk by 17,900 jobs so far this year, a decline of one-half percentage point (See charts below.). Private sector payrolls now stand at 3,421,000. Hardest hit was manufacturing, which lost 1,900 jobs in July, bringing that sector's employment deficit for the year to 14,800, a 3.2 percent decline. The reduction in manufacturing employment (from 458,700 in December to 443,900 in July) comes as no surprise. In fact, it represents a continuation of a long-term secular decline that has erased almost half of the state's factory payrolls since 1979. Of greater concern are recent job losses in the diverse service sector, the energetic workhorse that powered the state's remarkable 1996-2000 expansion. The service industries incurred a modest loss of 3,500 jobs in the January-July period, a decrease of about one tenth of one percent. Before this year, growth in that sector had handily offset losses on the factory floor, allowing overall private sector employment to grow even as manufacturing payrolls shrank. This year's employment decline is the worst since the first half of 1992, when New Jersey was just beginning to emerge from of the last recession. However, current losses are modest when compared to the depths of the 1989-92 recession period, when as many as 30,000 jobs vanished in a single month. While the state's unemployment rate has crept up from its February low of 3.6 percent, it remains at historically low levels. The jobless rate reached 4.5 percent in June, a 21-month high, then fell back to 4 percent in July, mostly as a result of seasonal factors. (See chart below.) New Jersey's employment decline, unanticipated by the state's leading regional economists at the start of the year, has caused forecasters to scale back their expectations for employment growth this year and next. In fact, Nancy Mantel, director of the Rutgers (University) Economic Advisory Service (R/ECON), said in a July news conference that the state is expected to create new jobs at a "snails pace" through 2002. Despite this year's employment decline, Mantel and other forecasters believe the New Jersey, buoyed by other strengths, won't succumb to a recession. Like the nation, New Jersey continues to enjoy pockets of economic vigor, such as home sales and consumer spending, that are—at least for now—offsetting a severe manufacturing downturn and a disquieting plunge in business spending on capital equipment. An area of continuing concern for New Jersey is corporate layoffs. When the nation's corporations announced a record number of layoffs in July, New Jersey found itself at ground zero. Due largely to the announcement by Lucent Technologies that it would cut 20,000 positions, the Garden State had the second largest number of cuts announced nationwide, behind California. Of the 205,975 layoffs announced, New Jersey companies claimed 26,378, or more than one in ten. However, many of the layoffs announced in New Jersey will take place in other states or countries. Whether New Jersey's employment pullback will ease up, stay at current levels or deepen remains an open question. But if the current torrid pace of corporate layoffs continues unabated, the Garden State will undoubtedly suffer.