Paul da Costa Represents More Than 40 Former Veterans Home Employees in Case featured in NJ.com article, “Workers at N.J.’s Deadliest Nursing Homes Were ‘Acceptable Losses,’ Suit Says.”

More than 40 former employees of the New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home at Menlo Park have filed suit against the facility and members of its upper management, alleging that negligent and willful safety failures during the Covid-19 pandemic placed workers in serious danger at one of the state’s hardest-hit long-term care facilities.

The claims center on the facility’s response during the earliest and most dangerous months of the pandemic, when employees say they were discouraged or prohibited from using basic protective measures while caring for vulnerable residents. According to the allegations, staff members were told they could be sent home for wearing masks or gloves, testing was restricted, and employees were required to report to work despite fevers, suspected Covid-19 symptoms, or known exposure because of staffing shortages.

The lawsuit further alleges that the facility operated through a rigid, militaristic chain of command, with threats of insubordination and disciplinary action directed at workers who questioned or refused unsafe directives. As a result, multiple employees allegedly contracted Covid-19, and at least one employee died after exposure to the virus.

Paul da Costa, who previously secured a $44 million settlement for families whose loved ones died at the facility from Covid-related illnesses, is now representing the former employees and their families in these claims. In filings against the state, da Costa argued that the workers’ “injuries and casualties were viewed as acceptable losses in favor of pacifying the residents – veterans, spouses and gold star patients – into a false sense of security.”

The state has argued in response that any remedy for a workplace injury should be limited to workers’ compensation, which would restrict the potential monetary damages available to the employees. But under New Jersey law, workers may pursue civil claims where an employer’s conduct amounts to an intentional wrong, and that exception is at the heart of the current case. As Paul and his team have argued, the “deliberate exposure to the COVID-19 virus and denial of the ability to protect oneself while at work” was not a normal risk of employment in a long-term care facility, particularly where staff had no expectation that they would be forbidden from wearing masks and ordered to work near residents and coworkers showing symptoms.

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Our firm remains committed to pursuing justice for individuals and families harmed by institutional failures, including those who served on the front lines of the pandemic under conditions no worker should have been forced to endure. If you or a loved one were harmed after being required to work in unsafe conditions, denied basic protective measures, or placed at risk by institutional failures during the Covid-19 pandemic, you should not have to navigate the aftermath alone. Please contact us at (973) 561-8310 for a free consultation.