The past, present, and future of workers’ compensation and other responses to workplace injuries will be examined by experts in the field during a daylong conference held at Rutgers Law School.
On Friday, Sept. 23, Rutgers Law School’s Center for Risk and Responsibility will host the conference “The Demise of the Grand Bargain: Compensation for Injured Workers in the 21st Century” at its Camden location.
Bringing together attorneys, law professors and students, judges and law clerks, and public officials and advocates, the conference, cosponsored by the Pound Civil Justice Institute and Northeastern University School of Law, will feature 16 distinguished speakers discussing a wide range of topics. Panels to be presented include, “The Challenges of the Changing Workforce and Legal Structure of Workers’ Compensation,” “The Economics of Workers’ Compensation and the Changing Insurance Market,” “Workplace Injuries as a Constitutional Law Issue,” and “Alternative Structures for Addressing Workplace Injuries: Tort Law and Beyond.”
The 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. conference will provide CLE accreditation in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Papers presented during “The Demise of the Grand Bargain” will be published in the Rutgers University Law Review.
According to Rutgers Distinguished Professor of Law Jay Feinman, who co-directs the Center with Professor Adam Scales and Associate Professor Rick Swedloff, the vitality of today’s workers’ compensation system has drawn serious debate and warrants scrutiny in an academic setting.
“For a century, the workers’ compensation system has provided income security and medical benefits for employees injured on the job,” says Feinman. “Today some groups argue that the system is broken and should be scrapped while others believe it needs to be strengthened. The Demise of the Grand Bargain conference will benefit policymakers, judges, and others as they grapple with how to compensate injured workers in a challenging economic and political environment.”
Presenters and discussants at the conference include Emily A. Spieler, Northeastern University School of Law; Alison D. Morantz, Stanford Law School; Robert F. Williams, Rutgers Law School; Robert L. Rabin, Stanford Law School; Adam Scales, Rutgers Law School; Leslie I. Boden, Boston University School of Health; John F. Burton, Jr., Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations; George W. Conk, Fordham University School of Law; Charles R. Davoli, Workers’ Injury Law and Advocacy Group; Michael C. Duff, University of Wyoming College of Law; Price V. Fishback, University of Arizona; Monica Galizzi, University of Massachusetts Lowell; Justin R. Long, Wayne State University Law School; James Lynch, chief actuary, Insurance Information Institute; Robert T. Reville, president and CEO of Praedicat, Inc.; and the Hon. David B. Torrey, workers’ compensation judge for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
To register for the Demise of the Grand Bargain conference, visit http://poundinstitute.org.