The New Jersey State AFL-CIO thanks the members of the New Jersey State Assembly Appropriations Committee who voted in support of essential workers. A-3999 advanced by a 7-4 vote along party lines on Monday, July 27, 2020. The bill seeks to reform the workers compensation system to aid essential workers who were infected with coronavirus on the job.
The New Jersey State AFL-CIO respectfully asks Speaker Craig J. Coughlin, D-19th District, to bring this bill to the Assembly floor for a vote. Its companion, S-2380, already has been passed by the state Senate.
Our frontline heroes are getting sick at their workplaces, but they must prove that their infection with COVID-19 coronavirus was job-related to get their well-deserved workers compensation benefits. A-3999 would take the “burden of proof” off the worker and set up a presumption that the infection happened on the job. The bill covers only essential workers who interact with the public during the course of their employment.
Voting to approve the pro-labor A-3999 were Appropriations Committee Chairman John J. Burzichelli, D-3rd District, Vice Chairman Gary S. Schaer, D-36th District, and Assembly members Herb Conaway, D-7th District, Wayne P. DeAngelo, D-14th District, William F. Moen Jr., D-5th District, Eliana Pintor Marin, D-29th District, and Cleopatra G. Tucker, D-28th District. Voting against working families were Assemblymen Brian Bergen, R-25th District, Kevin J. Rooney, R-40th District, Antwan McClellan, R-1st District, and Jay Webber, R-26th District.
A-3999 is sponsored by Deputy Majority Leader Thomas P. Giblin, D-34th District, Deputy Speaker Burzichelli, and Assemblywomen Carol A. Murphy, D-7th District, and Joann Downey, D-11th District. The New Jersey State AFL-CIO thanks them for standing up for working families amid this unprecedented pandemic.