Governors have long used the workers’ compensation bench to reward loyal donors and friends. According to Chief Judge Calderone “the new judges create serious administrative problems.” Simply stated, the Division of Workers’ Compensation has no where to put all of these new judges – there is a lack of courtroom space and administrative staff (according to Calderone). Worse, the newly-hired judges come from all over New Jersey – and assigning these Judges must take into consideration long commute times.
Chief Judge Calderone stated that current sitting Judges will spend less time on the bench – by taking a mandatory “extra office day” per week – to give the newly-hired Judges something to do. In other words, to make work for the new Judges, the veteran Judges will be given mandatory “rest days.”
We can also expect that current assignments will be shuffled and that the average number of cases on any one docket will be reduced.
