If you are injured on the job in New Jersey, you may be entitled to file a claim for workers’ compensation benefits. All employees in New Jersey should understand what kinds of benefits workers’ compensation provides and how much financial assistance they can receive for a work injury or occupational disease.
Temporary Total Disability Benefits
Employees who are unable to report to work due to a work injury or occupational illness for at least seven days are entitled to receive temporary total disability benefits from workers’ comp. In New Jersey, temporary total disability benefits provide 70 percent of your average weekly wage calculated prior to your injury or illness. However, temporary total disability benefits are subject to minimum floors and maximum caps set by the state each year.
Workers can receive temporary total disability benefits from workers’ comp until they:
- Return to work
- Are certified by their treating physician as having reached maximum medical improvement, or the point at which no further treatment is reasonably expected to improve the worker’s condition
- Receive 400 weeks of temporary total disability benefits
Permanent Partial Disability Benefits
After reaching maximum medical improvement or exhausting temporary total disability benefits, workers will undergo a medical evaluation to determine if they have suffered any permanent disability or impairment because of their work injury or occupational illness. Workers who have suffered some degree of permanent impairment that does not render them totally incapable of working in some form of gainful employment may be entitled to an award of permanent partial disability benefits.
Permanent partial disability benefits are calculated according to a formula that accounts for factors such as the type of impairment, the degree of loss of function, and the worker’s pre-injury/illness average weekly wage. The state publishes a schedule of benefits based on this formula. However, some disabilities and impairments are not listed on the schedule and are considered “non-scheduled,” usually expressed as a percentage of disability of the whole body.
Permanent Total Disability Benefits
Workers who exhaust their temporary total disability benefits but still cannot return to gainful employment may be entitled to receive permanent total disability benefits, which continue payment of temporary total disability benefits. Permanent total disability benefits are available for an initial period of 450 weeks, at which point a worker will undergo another medical evaluation to determine if they remain permanently disabled. So long as the worker remains incapable of returning to the workforce, they can continue to receive permanent total disability benefits.
Additional Benefits
The New Jersey workers’ compensation system also provides other benefits such as:
- Medical benefits, which pay for any necessary medical treatment and rehabilitation of a work injury or occupational illness
- Vocational rehabilitation service, which offers job retraining and job placement counseling if you can no longer continue in your present job but can do other kinds of work
- Death benefits, which provides up to $5,000 in reasonable funeral and burial costs, plus payments to a deceased worker’s surviving spouse, minor children, and other family dependents
Contact a Freehold Personal Injury Lawyer to Discuss Your Workplace Injury Case in New Jersey
Were you or a loved one injured due to a workplace accident in New Jersey? Don’t let the medical bills pile up while you wait for the negligent party or their insurance company to do the right thing. Right now, you need an aggressive personal injury attorney on your side, fighting to get you the compensation you need, want, and deserve. The skilled attorneys at New Jersey Workers Compensation Lawyer represent clients injured in Freehold, New Brunswick, Toms River, and throughout New Jersey. Call (934) 200-5372 or fill out our online contact form to schedule a free consultation about your case. We have an office conveniently located at 82 Court Street Freehold, NJ 07728, as well as offices in Toms River and New Brunswick.
The articles on this blog are for informative purposes only and are no substitute for legal advice or an attorney-client relationship. If you are seeking legal advice, please contact our law firm directly.