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Browse this page for online tools relating to Workers’ Compensation cases, e-filings, and rate calculations.
COURTS on-line provides authorized subscribers access to detailed information relating to their firm's cases and hearing lists. Authorized subscribers can also use the system to e-file legal pleadings. The Workers' Compensation electronic filing (eFiling) program enables attorneys, insurance carriers, governmental agencies and self-insurers to file and receive Workers' Compensation legal documents through the Division's COURTS on-line system.
The following legal pleadings may be filed under this program:
- Claim Petitions
- Answers to Claim Petitions
- Dependency Claim Petitions
- Answers to Dependency Claim Petitions
- Medical Claim Petitions
- Answer to Medical Claim Petitions
- Application for Review and Modification of Formal Awards (Re-Openers)
- Answers to Application for Review and Modification of Formal Award
- Amendments to all of the above 8 documents
- Application for an Informal Hearing (insurance carriers can also e-file this document)
- Motion to Dismiss
- General Motion
- Answer to Motion
- Motion for Medical & Temporary Benefits
- Answer to Motion for Medical & Temporary Benefits
- Motion for Emergent Medical Treatment
- Law firms currently registered with the Division
- Insurance carriers and approved Self-Insurers (self-administered), registered with the Division
- Court reporting Firms currently under contract with the Division
- Physicians that appear before the Workers’ Compensation Court
Benefits for Carriers/Law Firms
Insurance carriers and law firms enjoy instant access to virtually all pending case data, including, but not limited to:
- Dates pleadings were received and processed by the Division
- Names and attorneys of all parties involved in a particular case
- Listing of all proceeding dates and results
- Lien information (TDI, Medicaid, child support, etc.)
- Related case information
- The ability to view judicial calendars for any given day or look up data for single cases
- Ability to download and print your firm’s hearing calendar
- Online access to a petitioner’s prior judgments, dismissals, and pending case data
- For law firms also participating in the electronic filing program:
- The ability to electronically file certain legal pleadings and receive notice of electronically filed legal pleadings through the COURTS on-line website
- The ability to e-file Applications for Informal Hearings and the ability to receive notice of e-filed documents through the COURTS on-line website. You can view, sort, and print the documents. Participation in this program also enables you to electronically designate respondent counsel to handle cases on behalf of your company.
- Security: Individual subscribers will only have access to the cases that belong to his or her law firm or insurance carrier, thus ensuring the confidentiality of case data. Additionally, all data stored in our system is fully encrypted.
Benefits for Court Reporting Firms
- The ability to download and print judicial calendars for any given day
- Access to case status information (open/closed) and decision details (date, award, type of decision, and fees awarded)
- Security: Individual subscribers will only have the ability to view information on the cases that have been assigned to their firm, thus ensuring the confidentiality of case data
Benefits for Workers' Compensation Physicians
- Physicians will be able to conduct a search by petitioner's claim petition number to obtain information about the status of a pending case (open/closed) and if closed, the date of closure, and the insurance carrier contact information
To access COURTS on-line, subscribers must:
- Have a valid and unique e-mail address: each individual subscriber must have his or her own unique valid e-mail address belonging solely to that individual. The Division will use this e-mail address to communicate with you.
To make sure that e-mail messages from the Division of Workers’ Compensation are delivered properly to your inbox, you should add the following domain names to your e-mail safe list: "dol.nj.gov" and “oit.nj.gov”.
- Obtain employer approval: the subscriber must be designated as an authorized participant by their employer.
- Utilize the following Internet and software settings:
- Browser: Internet Explorer (version 7.0 or later) or Firefox. You must be able to download documents from the Internet and also view pop-up windows (disable pop-up blocker for the site).
- Internet Connection: We recommend broadband (cable or DSL) to avoid response time problems.
- PC Settings: If you have to scroll left-right to see the full page or document templates, you may need to adjust your screen resolution.
- Other Software: You must have a PDF Reader installed. Adobe Acrobat Reader is available as a free download from adobe.com. You must also be able to view JPEG and TIFF image files in a multi-page format (like Windows Photo Viewer or similar).
If your firm is interested in participating in this program, please complete a COURTS on-line Internet Access Application form.
Before the Division can process the COURTS on-line Internet Access Application, we will need for your firm to designate a contact person, an individual with a managerial title. This can be done by completing the Designation of a Contact Person form within the application. It will be the contact person’s responsibility to approve the list of users for your firm, advise us on the electronic filing access level for every subscriber, notify us whenever there is a change to this list, and receive notices from the Division regarding e-gov program updates.
The Subscriber Application forms with the application need to be completed and signed by each applicant as well as the contact person. Please note that if the contact person wishes to access the program as well, he or she will also have to complete a subscriber application.
Participation in e-filing is open to COURTS on-line subscribers. If you are already a COURTS on-line subscriber and you wish to participate in electronic filing, please contact your company's COURTS on-line Contact Person for further assistance. The COURTS on-line Contact Person must complete a Subscriber Change Form, indicating the names of the subscribers who should be granted e-filing rights. If you are unsure of the name of your company’s contact person, please call us at (609) 777-4921 or send an e-mail to courts@dol.nj.gov.
The COURTS on-line preview goes into detail about the various screens and functionalities of the program. Please review this at your convenience to learn more about the program.
Click here to review electronic filing procedures.
Important Notices
- 3/22/17 Memo re: COURTS on-line E-orders Upgrades
- 12/21/15 Notice to Law firms re: COURTS on-line E-orders Procedures
- 8/28/15 Notice to E-filers re: COURTS on-line system upgrades
- 3/6/14 Notice to E-Filers re: E-Filing of Motions with Attachments
- 2/19/14 Important Announcement: E-Filing of Motions with Attachments
- 10/15/13 COURTS on-line Update
- 5/29/13 Memo - One Year Anniversary
- 2/22/13 Memo to e-filing Law Firms/Carriers: Servicing of Motions
- 2/12/13 Memo from Judge Calderone re: Electronic Filing of Motions
- 2/8/13 Memo to Law Firms: E-Filing of Motions
- 2/8/13 Memo to Carriers: E-Filing of Motions
- 2/7/13 E-Filing of Motions - Overview and Procedures
- 8/1/2012 COURTS on-line system upgrade status
- COURTS on-line system upgrade
- COURTS on-line system outage information
- 6/7/12 Memo from Judge Calderone re: COURTS IV
- 6/6/12 Preparing for Transition
- 8/9/11 Announcement to COURTS on-line subscribers re: System Redesign
Procedures Guides
- 5/2/14 E-Filing Motions and Answers to Motions - Procedures Guide (incl. Document Upload)
- 3/18/14 E-Filing Claim Petitions and Amended CP's
- 2/24/14 E-Filing Procedures: Answer & Amended Answer to Re-Opener
- 2/18/14 E-Filing Procedures: Re-Openers & Amended Re-Openers
- Preview - E-Filing Answer to Claim Petition module
- Preview - COURTS on-line screens and basic navigation
Q. How can I add or change user information on my firm’s account?
A. If your company is already participating in COURTS on-line but you would like to add a new subscriber, please complete a COURTS on-line Subscriber Application Form.
If you would like to change information (name, e-mail address, e-filing access level) for an existing subscriber, the firm's COURTS on-line Contact Person must complete a COURTS on-line Subscriber Change Form.
Q. How can I remove a user on my firm’s account?
A. If you would like to remove a subscriber, please e-mail courts@dol.nj.gov for instructions.
Q. What are the different access levels options for e-filing rights?
We are giving COURTS on-line participating firms the ability to designate who on their staff will have electronic filing rights. For law firms, we are offering 3 different access levels. For insurance carriers and self-administered self-insurers, we are offering two access levels.
Law Firm Access Levels Options
- Basic: Subscribers assigned this access level will not be able to electronically receive or submit legal pleadings. This is the default access level in COURTS on-line
- Limited: Subscribers assigned this access level will receive notices of electronically filed legal pleadings and they will be able to data enter and save information into pre-formatted templates. They will not be able to electronically file any legal documents
- Full: Subscribers assigned this access level will be given full rights to receive and file legal pleadings electronically.
Insurance Carrier Access Levels Options
- Basic: Subscribers assigned this access level will not be able to electronically receive or submit legal pleadings. This is the default access level in COURTS on-line.
- Full: Subscribers assigned this access level will be given full rights to e-file Applications for Informal Hearing, to receive and download electronically filed legal pleadings sent to their company and to designate respondent counsel on electronically filed cases.
Important Note: As long as one subscriber from a law firm or carrier is designated as an active electronic filing participant, that firm will be considered an "Electronic filing firm", and they will receive notices of electronically filed legal pleadings only through the COURTS on-line website. Manually filed documents will continue to be sent to the parties of a case through US Mail.
Q. Why participate in e-filing?
A. When all parties of a case are electronic partners of the Division, the e-filing process, which manually could take several weeks, can be completed within minutes. Better yet, all e-filed documents are stored in the Division’s database, available for viewing or downloading at any time by any party. For attorneys and insurance carriers representing injured workers and employers, e-filing provides the ability to conduct real time business with the Division and with each other, resulting in visible improvements to case processing time. In addition to the increased efficiency, it is simply much easier to store, maintain, and retrieve information from electronic records.
Q. Whom should I contact if I have additional questions?
A. If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact:
To improve efficiencies, the Division sends notices of upcoming hearings to the parties of pending Workers' Compensation cases electronically.
To view a sample of the attorney calendar in the MS Word format, click here.
To avoid missing notice of a scheduled hearing date, register for the Electronic Calendar program by downloading the application form and emailing the completed form to courts@dol.nj.gov.
NJ workers compensation laws require insurance carriers, third party administrators, self-administered self-insured employers, and statutory non-insured employers, including the State, counties, municipalities and school boards, to file accident reports with the State in an electronic format compatible with national Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) standards.
Employers should simply report work-related injuries/illnesses directly to their Workers’ Compensation carrier or Third Party Administrator, who, in turn, must file the necessary data with the New Jersey Compensation Rating & Inspection Bureau (NJCRIB) in an electronic format.
Detailed information about implementing an electronic accident report filing system can be found in the NJ EDI Implementation Guide. Information on how to file a Variance Petition, which extends the filing deadline, obtaining a vendor, data elements, and FAQ’s are also available in this guide.
Please direct EDI technical issues to New Jersey’s EDI vendor, ISO, at njcribedi@iso.com.
Q. What is Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)?
A. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the computer-to-computer exchange of data or information in a standardized format. Claim Administrators submitting the data must format the data according to approved file layouts and data standards. Data must pass pre-defined edits; transactions that file must be re-sent. Reports must be sent in a specific order based upon the business events to which they correspond. The receiver of the data sends electronic acknowledgment to the sender for all transactions. All data is sent electronically through Value Added Networks or other approved secure networks.
Q. Are there penalties for not complying?
A. Every employer, insurer, or other person failing to comply with the terms of this article shall, for each offense, be liable to a penalty of not less than ten nor more than fifty dollars, the amount thereof to be determined by and paid to the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development. Upon refusal to pay such fine, the same shall be recovered in an action at law by the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development in the name of the State of New Jersey.
