34:15-134.1 Trainer to carry compensation insurance for employees, eligibility for coverage.

2. Notwithstanding any provision of P.L.1995, c.329 (C.34:15-129 et seq.), as amended:

a. A standardbred trainer who is licensed or is required to be licensed by the commission shall carry compensation insurance covering the standardbred trainer's employees as required by R.S.34:15-1 et seq., regardless of where the standardbred trainer's horses are stabled;

b. With respect to the stable employees of a thoroughbred trainer, the workers' compensation policy secured by the board shall cover only those stable employees who are licensed or are required to be licensed by the commission when they are employed to work at a permitted New Jersey racetrack to care for the horses located there. To be eligible for coverage and benefits under the workers' compensation policy secured by the board, those stable employees shall be injured at a permitted New Jersey racetrack while they are engaged in performing services for which they are licensed or are required to be licensed. Those thoroughbred trainer's stable employees shall remain eligible for coverage under the workers' compensation policy secured by the board, if the trainer requires them to accompany a horse that is transported from the permitted New Jersey racetrack where it is stabled to compete in a race at an out-of-State racetrack. Those stable employees shall remain eligible for coverage under the board's policy for that period of time in which the out-of-State racetrack requires the horse to be present prior to the race, provided that the horse is returned to stabling at a permitted New Jersey racetrack within a maximum of 48 hours after the race. The workers' compensation policy of the board shall not cover those stable employees who are licensed or are required to be licensed by the commission who work with horses that the trainer has stabled at a location other than a permitted New Jersey racetrack;

c. A thoroughbred trainer who is licensed or is required to be licensed by the commission shall carry compensation insurance covering the thoroughbred trainer's employees as required by R.S.34:15-1 et seq. when the trainer's horses are not stabled at a permitted New Jersey racetrack. A thoroughbred trainer whose horses are stabled at a permitted New Jersey racetrack and whose stable employees receive workers' compensation coverage through the policy secured by the board shall immediately obtain compensation insurance covering these stable employees as required by R.S.34:15-1 et seq. if and when that trainer's horses are no longer stabled at a permitted New Jersey racetrack; and

d. A thoroughbred trainer whose stable employees receive workers' compensation coverage through the policy secured by the board shall ascertain and comply with the workers' compensation requirements of any other state to which that thoroughbred trainer is subject to jurisdiction. In such cases when a state other than New Jersey requires a thoroughbred trainer to obtain workers' compensation insurance coverage pursuant to the terms and conditions of its laws, any workers' compensation coverage provided through the policy secured by the board shall be secondary to the coverage required by the other state.

L.1999, c.378, s.2; amended 2008, c.11, s.4.