Now that the two weeks to slow the spread seems to have come to an end, it is time to cast aside some of the habits acquired during the “new normal” and retain some as we slowly consider a possible return to the “old normal.” Without question, the practice of workers’ compensation has made it, intact, to the other end of the pandemic in one piece. Certainly, COVID-19 forced a significant paradigm shift in the way cases are handled. The question now becomes, what worked and what is worth preserving?
At the beginning, it seemed that the practice might come to a halt, entirely. In addition to the obvious lack of need for a workers’ compensation system stemming from a frozen labor market, the Workers’ Compensation Office of Adjudication was understandably not prepared to take a statewide practice remote on a moment’s notice. With fits and starts, including dabbling in Zoom, Skype for Business, GoToMeeting, WebEx, Ma Bell and finally, Microsoft Teams, the practice of workers’ compensation eventually resumed some sense of normalcy—albeit individualized to each judge with few universally mandated norms. All hearings, mediations depositions and other interactions became virtual. While this way of litigating cases was more convenient in many ways, it also detracted, significantly, from various key aspects of the practice. Gone was the ability of workers’ compensation judges to assess the credibility of a witness or a claimant, live. Even preparing a witness or streamlining issues with opposing counsel became strained.
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