80 WC claimants in NJ ordered to pay their employer $2.2 million
An alarming Federal District Court decision from New Jersey:
A group of wokers who sought workers' compensation benefits after their factory closed were ordered to pay more than $2.2 million to their former employer.
The company levied racketeering charges against the employees and accused them of conspiring to defraud the company by making false injury claims. The saddest part is that the workers, in part because they may not have understood what was happening, did not contest the lawsuit. And so, without any contested hearing on the merits of the case, U.S. District Judge Stanley Chesler signed a default judment against the workers.
Judge Chesler ordered the employees to repay the company's attorney fees, costs, compensatory damages and even workers' compensation awards that had been paid to two former factory workers.
The judgment is alarming, not least because it is a default judgment and the viewpoints and positions of the workers were not heard. I've got to agree with others workers' rights attorneys who told the Star-Ledger newspaper in New Jersey that the case "signals a 'frightening precedent' that can be used to quell legitimate employee injury claims" and may make attorneys hesitant to take on workers' cases.
The Michigan-based company involved had 12.8 billion in sales last year, and obviously had plenty of money to hire competent attorneys to bring this federal case. The workers, many of whom had salaries of $16,000 or $17,000 a year, would probably have had trouble paying attorneys to defend them, had they realized the necessity of responding to the suit.
Read more about the case here.