Offi cers’ Rights
Fill your prescriptions and
report your medications
The rules and regulations of many law enforce-
ment agencies require members to report which,
if any, prescription medications they are taking.
For a variety of reasons — including innocent ne-
glect, forgetfulness and a fear of being sent for a
fitness-for-duty evaluation — many law enforce-
ment officers choose to keep that information pri-
STUART vate and not follow Department rules and regula-
tions in terms of reporting. If nobody ever finds
ALTERMAN out, then there are no repercussions.
However, there are times when aspects of the lives
of a law enforcement officer collide, and a failure to report pre-
scription medications can come back to bite the non-reporting
law enforcement officer. Chief among those times are litigation-
related matters.
Whether it is a workers’ compensation case, a personal injury
matter or an employment lawsuit, the law enforcement officer
who has filed any of these is often required to answer questions
called interrogatories. Most attorneys defending workers’ com-
pensation claims or lawsuits ask general or “form” interrogato-
ries meant to uncover all medical evidence involving the affect-
ed law enforcement officer.
One of those general or form interrogatories normally reads
as follows:
Please supply all documents that refer or relate to
any medications taken by or prescribed to plaintiff/
petitioner from the period beginning 1995 to the pres-
ent.
Give a detailed description of all medications taken
by plaintiff/petitioner as a result of the incident com-
plained of indicating the names and addresses of the
physicians or persons who prescribed same.
Most law enforcement officers hire attorneys to represent
them in either workers’ compensation claims or lawsuits. How-
ever, those attorneys usually do not familiarize themselves with
the rules and regulations of the law enforcement officer that
they represent.
They are not being neglectful. Instead, most times, the rules
and regulations of the law enforcement officer do not impact
the claim or lawsuit in which they are representing their client.
Additionally, most law enforcement officers do not give a
second thought to simply answering all interrogatories put to
The Law Firm of
Alterman & Associates, LLC
Stuart J. Alterman, Esquire
Jeffrey S. Ziegelheim, Esquire
Arthur J. Murray, Esquire
Proudly representing Law Enforcement and Public Safety for a combined 80 years
Contract Negotiation
Contract Arbitration
Grievances/ Arbitration
Discipline Defense
Whistleblower /CEPA
Hostile Work Environment
Pension/Disability Appeals
Criminal Defense
Workers Compensation
Personal Injury
Human Resource Issues
Civil Rights Litigation
Administrative
One Stop Shop for Public Safety
Alterman & Associates, LLC have been an approved law firm with the PBA Legal Protection Plan since its inception.
South Jersey Location
8 South Maple Avenue, Marlton, NJ 08053
(856) 334-5737
North Jersey Location
22 Church Street, Haledon, NJ 07508
(973) 956-1621
[email protected]
www.altermanandassociates.com
www.NJPoliceAttorney.com
www.NJCorrectionsAttorney.com
22
NEW JERSEY COPS
■ JUNE 2018