Certified Workers’ Compensation Professional Training Announced At Michigan State University

Certified Workers’ Compensation Professional; September 22-26, 2008; Marriott Princeton Hotel and Conference Center at Forrestal; Princeton, New Jersey

Princeton, NJ  (CompNewsNetwork) - The Workers’ Compensation Center at Michigan State University has offered certification programs for workers’ compensation professionals since 1999. The programs have been offered throughout the country and over 2,000 professionals have attended the programs and been designated as Certified Workers’ Compensation Professionals (CWCPs). The guiding principle of the programs is that the content is national: the lectures and materials do not focus on the law of any one state but teach principles that apply across the country.

The program offered in New Jersey in September 2008 is unique. Most of the content will reflect the national orientation of the Michigan State University certification program. However, two sessions will provide additional material pertaining to New Jersey. The program dealing with the legal issues of workers’ compensation and other disability programs will include the New Jersey approaches to these issues, drawing on the expertise of Rutgers University faculty member John Burton and the Honorable Peter J. Calderone, who has served as Director and Chief Judge of the New Jersey Division of Workers’ Compensation since 2002. Judge Calderone previously served as the New Jersey Commissioner of Labor and as Deputy Attorney General. He is a graduate of Rutgers College and the Rutgers Law School – Newark.

One day of the program will deal with medical issues. John J. Bernick, MD, Ph.D. will present a national perspective on this topic. In addition, Dr. James Aragona, MD, a New Jersey Orthopaedic Surgeon, will discuss the practice of disability rating in the New Jersey workers’ compensation program. Dr. Aragona, a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery and a Fellow of the American Academy of Disability Evaluating Physicians, has extensive experience performing workers’ compensation permanency determinations and independent medical examinations.
 
The director of the New Jersey Certification Program is John Burton (Member, New Jersey Advisory Council on Workers’ Compensation; Professor Emeritus and former Dean of the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University; and former Chairman of the National Commission on State Workmen’s Compensation Laws). Ed Welch, Professor Emeritus and former director of the Workers’ Compensation Center at Michigan State University, created the Certified Workers’ Compensation Professional program and will serve as the program advisor.

The program will examine several topics relevant for workers’ compensation professionals: (1) The Principles of Disability Law, including workers’ compensation and temporary disability insurance; (2) Insurance and Self-Insurance; (3) Claims Management; (4) Safety, Disability Prevention, and Management Issues; and (5) Medical Issues. The program involves five days of presentations by instructors and interactions among those attending the program, most of whom are already familiar with workers’ compensation.

Attendees are evaluated on the basis of their attendance, participation in the sessions, and answers on five take-home exams, which are due two weeks after the program. Those who complete the requirements will receive certificates from Michigan State University and Rutgers: The State University of New Jersey. In addition, Continuing Education Credit is available for many professions. Examples from the Fall 2007 program included 33.75 hours of New Jersey Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit and 24 Producer Continuing Education Units (CEUs). We anticipate that similar arrangements for credits will be made for the September 2008 program. The fee for the five-day seminar is $2,295, which includes continental breakfasts and lunches, course materials, the take-home exams, and certificates from Michigan State University and Rutgers University.

Additional information about the Certified Workers’ Compensation Professional program and a registration form for the September 2008 program in Princeton are available at: http://www.lir.msu.edu/wcc/wccp/

If you have questions about the program or if you wish to be added to the distribution list for additional information, please contact:

Professor John F. Burton, Jr.
School of Management and Labor Relations
Rutgers: The State University of New Jersey
56 Primrose Circle
Princeton, NJ 08540-9416
Phone: 732-274-0600
Fax: 732-274-0678
Email: NJWCCert@aol.com

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