Personal Injury Law Journal

Alfred P. Vitarelli

avitarelli@stark-stark.com
856.874.4420

Alfred P. Vitarelli is a Shareholder and member of Stark & Stark’s Workers’ Compensation Group where he focuses his practice primarily on Workers’ Compensation litigation. Mr. Vitarelli has practiced Worker's Compensation throughout New Jersey since 1981.

Mr. Vitarelli is a graduate of Rutgers University School of Law and remains an active Alumni Board member and Officer, including serving a term as Alumni Chancellor and serving on the Alumni Scholarship Committee for many years. From 1994 to December 2009, Mr. Vitarelli was an Adjunct Professor at Widener University’s Wilmington campus teaching Workers’ Compensation law. In 1993 he was appointed by the New Jersey Supreme Court to an Ad Hoc committee of the Board on Attorney Certification investigating expansion of Certification into the areas of Workers’ Compensation and Matrimonial Law. When the Court formally initiated Workers’ Compensation as an area of specialization in 1996, Mr. Vitarelli was appointed to the Board on Attorney Certification and was named Chair of the Board’s Workers’ Compensation Committee. In December 2008 his terms were extended by the Supreme Court for an additional year. In addition to his affiliations within the legal community he currently serves as a member of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, and is a past Vice Flotilla Commander of Flotilla 13-3.

What are the factors a court will review in deciding if an on-the-job heart attack is compensable?

The New Jersey Workers' Compensation Act has a specific provision addressing cardiovascular and cerebral vascular (stroke) injuries. Section 7.2 of the Act provides, "In any claim for compensation for injury or death from cardiovascular or cerebral vascular causes, the claimant shall prove by a preponderance of the credible evidence that the injury or death was produced by the work effort or strain involving a substantial condition, event or happening in excess of the wear and tear of the claimant’s daily living and in reasonable medical probability caused in a material degree the cardiovascular or cerebral vascular injury or death resulting therefrom."

"Material degree" means an appreciable degree or a degree substantially greater than de minimus.

Obviously this is one of the more difficult areas of Workers’ Compensation law, and a worker who suffers a heart attack on the job should consult a qualified workers' compensation attorney. A key issue here is the work effort was and whether it was in excess of the worker’s daily living. Our courts have interpreted this not as a comparison of the work effort at the time of the attack but rather a comparison of that work effort with the wear and tear of the person’s daily living outside of work.

A second important point to consider are the medical proofs available. What was the worker’s health before the attack? How much time passed between the work effort and the attack? Obviously these complicated issues should always be handled by a qualified workers' compensation attorney such as those here at Stark & Stark.

Alfred Vitarelli is a Shareholder in Stark & Stark's Marlton, New Jersey office, concentrating in Workers’ Compensation Law. For more information, please contact Mr. Vitarelli.

Someone who is hurt on the job in New Jersey may be told by their employer that they must be treated by a doctor chosen by the employer’s insurance company.  Why can’t the injured party pick their own doctor, even when out-of-state residents suffer similar work injuries and are able to chose their own doctors?

In New Jersey the Workers’ Compensation Act gives an employer or it’s workers’ compensation insurance company the right to chose the doctor and other health providers who will provide medical care to a worker injured in the course of his or her employment. This has been a part of the law for many years. The reasoning behind this is cost containment. Theoretically, by allowing the employer/insurance company to chose health providers, medical care will be obtained at a lower cost. This was one of the original aims of workers’ compensation laws when originally enacted early in the 20th century.

Before workers’ compensation laws existed, persons injured during the course of employment often went without medical care or disability payments due to the state of civil law at that time. When the workers’ compensation laws were enacted they contained what some have called “compromises;” in return for furnishing medical and disability benefits to workers for on the job injuries, employers were given the right to chose physicians as a means of controlling costs associated with the furnishing of these benefits.

Of course, this applies where the employer provides medical treatment. If an employer refuses to provide medical care to an injured worker after such care has been requested, the worker can obtain treatment on his or her own and seek to have the employer pay for the treatment. It is most strongly recommended, however, that the worker who is being denied treatment seek the services of a qualified workers’ compensation attorney as soon as he or she is denied such benefits. Legal papers must often be filed to obtain treatment and the attorneys here at Stark & Stark are experienced in such matters and look forward to serving injured workers.

Alfred Vitarelli is a Shareholder in Stark & Stark's Marlton, New Jersey office, concentrating in Workers’ Compensation Law. For more information, please contact Mr. Vitarelli.

My employer, a retail store, is located in a large shopping mall. We do not have a separate parking area for our employees, but we are instructed not to park near the major entrances of the mall; we are to park near the access road, not near the entrances.  This is to allow our customers to park as close to the mall entrances as possible.  One morning while parking my car in the mall lot where I was instructed to park I slipped and fell. I broke my elbow and hurt my back. My employer denied me Workers’ Compensation benefits and told me to put my medical treatment through my private benefits and to apply for State Temporary disability. I was told my fall was not compensable since I had not yet clocked in and was still “commuting,” and that my employer did not control the parking lot. Is this correct?

In New Jersey commuting to and from work is controlled by the “going and coming rule.”  This simply means that accidents occurring during an ordinary commute and before the employee actually enters the employer’s premises are not compensable. However, there are exceptions. Here, although the employer does not own or control the lot, it does exert a measure of “control” over the employees by directing them to park in an area away from the mall entrances.  Our courts have carved out an exception to the “going and coming rule” where the employer “controls” the employee parking. The act of the employer directing its employees where to park should be sufficient to allow the fall to be considered compensable. Of course all claims are fact-sensitive. If you have any questions about a possibly work-related accident the Worker’s Compensation attorneys here at Stark and Stark are always ready to assist you.

Al Vitarelli is a Shareholder in Stark & Stark’s Marlton, New Jersey office, concentrating in Workers’ Compensation Law. For more information, please contact Mr. Vitarelli.

It’s summer again. What happens when injuries occur during company-approved or sponsored social or recreational activities?

Each year people are injured while participating in off-working hours social and recreational activities which are either sponsored by or approved by the injured worker’s employer. These activities include softball or basketball games, picnics, beach outings, etc. Most people assume that since the employer sponsored the event any injuries which are sustained while participating in the event are covered by workers’ compensation. This is not true in all cases. 

In New Jersey an injury sustained during one of these events is covered by workers’ compensation only if two tests are met.  First, the event in question must provide a benefit to the employer over and above employee health and morale. There must be evidence that the event provided an actual benefit to the employer’s business. For example, if an employer sponsors a softball game with a company for the purpose of generating more business with that company, this test is usually met. If however the game is just to give the employees a fun day off to improve morale, the test would not be met and injuries sustained would not be compensable.

The second test is that there needs to be some compulsion on the employee to participate in the event. To use the example above, the employees must be required, so to speak, to participate in the business event. If there is no compulsion on the employees, the event will probably not be covered by the Workers’ Compensation Act. 

Obviously each situation will be fact sensitive.  The Workers’ Compensation attorneys here at Stark & Stark are happy to answer any questions you may have about these issues.

Al Vitarelli is a Shareholder in Stark & Stark’s Marlton, New Jersey office, specializing in Workers’ Compensation Law. For more information, please contact Mr. Vitarelli.

I live in Philadelphia but I was hurt in Camden working for a North Jersey construction company. I received all my treatment in the Philadelphia/Camden area. When my attorney filed my claim petition the Court listed my case for hearings in Newark. Do I have to go all the way to Newark for my case?

This is a question we often receive.  The answer is no, you do not have to go to Newark. What happens in situations such as this is when a Claim Petition is filed the State computer automatically reviews it for the addresses of the petitioner and the employer. In this case the computer saw that the petitioner (the injured worker) lives out of state and the employer’s address is in Newark. It automatically listed the case for a hearing in Newark. Under our Worker’s compensation law cases are assigned to hearing offices around the state based on the county in which the worker lives. However, if he or she lives out of state and the employer is a New Jersey company the case will be assigned to the county where the employer is located. In this situation a Motion to Change Venue can be filed. This means the attorney will ask a Judge to move the case to a county in New Jersey close to where the worker lives. Such motions are almost always granted for the convenience of the injured worker. 

Alfred Vitarelli is a Shareholder and in the firm's Marlton, New Jersey office, specializing in Workers' Compensation. For more information, please contact Mr. Vitarelli.