Author: Sarah Thomas

Home > Archives for Sarah Thomas

Jones Jones LLC Managing Partner Sarah Thomas featured in Hotel Management Magazine

Jones Jones LLC Managing Partner Sarah Thomas is featured in Hotel Management Magazine, sharing her view on mitigating workers’ compensation claims for the hospitality industry – an industry, which in 2020, experienced 11,320 nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses involving days away from work.  In addition to sharing her thoughts on minimizing such injuries and illnesses, Sarah discusses how lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic can help inform future mitigation tactics, and how to best set up a successful return to work program.

To learn more, you can view the full article here: https://www.hotelmanagement.net/operate/mitigating-workers-comp-claims.

 

Jones Jones LLC’s Sarah Thomas Presents On Increased And Expedited WC Closures

Jones Jones LLC Managing Partner Sarah Thomas presented to the Long Island Chapter of RIMS on May 17th, 2022 in Farmingdale, New York. Sarah was honored to present her thoughts on strategic planning regarding settlements in NYS Workers’ Compensation along with her best practices on the issues of claim reporting, fraud litigation, as well as the management of workers’ compensation and general liability global settlements to the esteemed group of risk and insurance professionals in attendance.

As Managing Partner of Jones Jones LLC, Sarah Thomas leads attorneys and clients alike through the evolving technicalities of workers’ compensation and insurance defense law. She began her career working for the Special Funds Conservation Committee where she defended the Second Injury Fund and the Fund for Reopened Cases. Thereafter, she transitioned to an associate attorney position at Jones Jones LLC. As an associate, Sarah handled numerous claims from inception to closure before the NYS Workers’ Compensation Board. In her current position as Managing Partner, she has launched many successful programs such as a settlement initiative that mitigated the cost of claims for several national clients. She has submitted several successful briefs to the Third Department on a variety of difficult workers’ compensation matters. She travels cross-country speaking about emerging industry topics. Sarah serves on the Board of the Society of New York Workers’ Compensation Bar Association, oversees settlement initiatives, and handles complex litigation pertaining to New York State construction law. Known as an attorney who embraces the use of multifaceted defense strategies, clients often seek Sarah’s guidance when navigating complex claims. She has built a reputation as someone who is innovative and always in tune with the ever-changing issues in the world of workers’ compensation.

Sarah actively engages with employers, carriers, and third-party administrators on a daily basis in order to organize and execute an impactful settlement program that will increase the number of closed workers’ compensation claims.

She leads the Jones Jones LLC team in New York and New Jersey to review and litigate cases with a “closing” mentality; meaning that the attorneys of Jones Jones LLC will always analyze a workers compensation case from a settlement perspective first and foremost. Saving our clients time and money on their claims is a priority to Sarah and the Jones Jones LLC team.

Contact Sarah and the many settlement focused partners at Jones Jones LLC at clientservices@jonesjonesllc.com if you would like to see how a targeted settlement approach can increase the number of your claim closures

Airline Employees & COVID-19: Do Employees Have a Claim for Workers’ Compensation in NY and NJ?

As coronavirus spreads throughout the country, the impact the virus will have on the workers’ compensation industry will continue to be studied.  A vast array of industries have workers categorized as “essential.”  Will these essential workers eventually have a path towards an established workers compensation claim?  As it currently stands in New York and New Jersey, there are limitations on what claims would currently give rise to an established COVID-19 claim. Turning to industry specific questions of compensability, we analyze the question of an airline employee’s claim for COVID-19.

There are two different theories in which an airline employee could file a workers’ compensation claim in New York State for diagnosis of COVID-19: as an occupational disease claim and as an accidental claim. For either theory to be successful, the burden is on the claimant to establish a causal relationship between his employment and his disability by competent medical evidence.

According to the CDC, it is likely that more cases of COVID-19 are going to be caused by community spread. The CDC defined community spread as meaning that “people have been infected with the virus in an area, including some who are not sure how or where they became infected.” As more people contract the virus, and less people know how or where they became infected, it will become more difficult for a claimant to show, through competent medical evidence, that there is a causal relationship between their employment and the virus.

For an occupational disease claim-the claimant would also need to prove that the disease arose “from the nature of employment … conditions to which all employees of a class are subject… and attach to that occupation a hazard….” Goldberg v. 954 Marcy Corp., 276 N.Y. 313, 319 (1938).The disease must result from a distinctive feature of the occupation. The claimant must establish a “recognizable link” between this distinctive feature and his condition through competent medical evidence. Matter of Phelan, 126 A.D.3d 1276 (3d Dept. 2015).

An airline employee most likely would not be able to establish COVID-19 as an occupational disease claim. In contrast, some hospital workers have been able to prove that an infectious disease contracted while at work in the hospital is compensable as an occupational disease. This is because a risk of catching a disease may be linked to their duties in dealing with infected patients. Case law has not yet expanded to other industries in this same way. The Board has not found that airline employees have a distinctive feature of their occupation in regards to exposure to disease.

Turning to accidental claims; the claimant would need to show ‘injury’ and ‘personal injury’ arising out of and in the course of employment and such disease or infection as may naturally and unavoidably result therefrom” (WCL 2[7]). “While a compensable accidental injury may either result from a single catastrophic event or develop gradually over a reasonably definite period of time, it must be demonstrated that a specific aspect of the claimant’s workplace was a contributing factor in bringing about the injury” ( Matter of Newton v Sears Roebuck & Co., 293 AD2d 862[2002]. To establish that the accidental injury developed gradually, rather than suddenly, the claimant must “demonstrate by competent medical evidence that [it] resulted from ‘unusual environmental conditions or events assignable to something extraordinary’ at his workplace” ( Matter of Mazayoff v A.C.V.L. Cos., Inc., 53 AD3d 890 [2008], quoting Matter of Harrington v Whitford Co., 302 AD2d 645 (2003), quoting Matter of

Johannesen v New York City Dept. of Hous. Preserv. & Dev., 84 NY2d 129 [1994]).

The NY Workers’ Compensation Board could possibly find that the COVID-19 pandemic is “something extraordinary;” however, this finding would not relieve the claimant of the requirement of bringing forth competent medical evidence specifically diagnosing the claimant with COVID-19.  Additionally, the Board will most likely find that the claimant would still need to prove specific and direct exposure to COVID-19 while at work.  In a review of Board Panel decisions throughout the years, there is a lack of case law specifically dealing with airline workers and infectious/communicable disease spread while in the course of employment.  While these are unprecedented times, we do believe that each airline COVID-19 case should be taken on a case-by-case basis with the majority of the claims most likely disallowed for lack of specific medical evidence and direct and specific proof of contact and exposure to individuals diagnosed with COVID-19.

New Jersey:

Under the New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Statute, an injury is either classified as a single accident, sustaining a permanent partial (or total) disability, or an occupational disease.

N.J.S.A. 34:15-36 defines permanent partial disability and explicitly notes, “Injuries such as minor lacerations, minor contusions, minor sprains, and scars which do not constitute significant permanent disfigurement, and occupational disease of a minor nature such as mild dermatitis and mild bronchitis shall not constitute permanent disability within the meaning of this definition.” For many of the individuals afflicted, COVID-19 presents as a minor respiratory infection. The definition of permanent partial disability suggests that in those instances, COVID-19 would not be compensable. As such, an airline employee who claims COVID-19 exposure, but only manifests minor symptoms would have difficulty maintaining a workers’ compensation action.

There is also a provision for compensable occupational diseases contained in the New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Statute. Therein, a disease is deemed compensable if it arises out of or in the course of employment and is due to a material degree of causes and conditions which are characteristic of a place of employment or are peculiar to a certain trade. See N.J.S.A 34:15-31. A  single, isolated case of COVID-19 would be difficult to prove. A petitioner most likely would not be able to prove that COVID-19 was caused by a characteristic of his or her work, given the virus can be caught in the general public. The occupational exposure claims are often occur as a result of exposure over a period of time, rather than a single event. In the context of the airline industry, this would also be difficult for an employee to prove. Particularly when faced with a pandemic.

The New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Statute and case law demonstrates an absence of evidence to support the compensability of claims for infectious disease during times of a pandemic. There is, however, an exception for emergency service workers. Emergency service workers are defined under N.J.S.A. 34:15-31.4. Airline workers would not fall under these provisions. The provisions of the statutes outlining exceptions for emergency service workers are just that, exceptions to the workers’ compensation statute. While emergency service workers may be able to establish claims for exposure to infectious diseases, the statute exception was designed to provide protections to individuals on the front lines of illness exposure.