Overseas Employees May Be Eligible for New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Benefits

Int’l Sch. Serv., Inc. v. New Jersey Dept. of Labor and Workforce Dev., 2009 WL 1974426 (App. Div., July 10, 2009) – In a case of first impression, the Appellate Division has held that New Jersey employers with employees working overseas may have a responsibility to provide workers’ compensation coverage for those employees, if sufficient minimum contacts exist between the overseas employees and New Jersey. The court relied upon its prior adoption of the “Larson” factors, as well as its analysis under Connolly v. Port Auth. Of New York and New Jersey, 317 N.J. Super. 315 (App. Div. 1998), the seminal case addressing the employer’s obligation for an extraterritorial injury. The determination must involve a case-by-case analysis, the court said, addressing such factors as the place of injury, place of contract, employee’s place of residence, and existence of some employment contacts in New Jersey. The court noted the location of the employer, by itself, is never sufficient to confer jurisdiction over out-of-state injuries; on the other hand, even when other factors are not present, jurisdiction may arise where the “composite employment incidents present a[n] … identification of the employment relationship with this State.”

Note: This article was published in the August 2009 issue of the New Jersey eAuthority.