If you are suffering from an injury that happened on the job, you may have lost wages from missing work and lost money from medical bills.
Fortunately, New Jersey employers are required to carry workers’ compensation insurance to cover on-the-job injuries. Workers’ compensation pays your medical bills at 100 percent with no deductibles or other out-of-pocket to you. It will also pay for your lost wages.
For some injuries, workers may be left with permanent impairment. Workers’ compensation pays permanent-partial or permanent-total benefits, depending on the severity of your injury.
That’s the good news.
Insurance Companies May Not Cooperate
The bad news is that sometimes employers don’t want to report a workers’ compensation claim to the insurance company because they believe that might cause their premiums to rise.
Or the insurance company may claim that you didn’t sustain any type of permanent impairment even though your injury never healed 100 percent. That’s where you need a skilled attorney to secure the benefits you are entitled to.
Further, you may even be able to pursue a personal injury claim against another party depending on the circumstances of your accident. For example, let’s say John is a truck driver and operating his rig in a safe manner.
A drunk driver crosses into John’s lane and they collide head-on. John is entitled to workers’ compensation benefits because the injury happened while he was working. John is also allowed to pursue a liability claim against the drunk driver and receive compensation for pain and suffering.
NJ Law Protects Workers
So, you may do yourself an injustice in the long run by not exploring your rights further. Don’t let yourself be pressured into accepting less money than you deserve because of current financial or other circumstances in your life.
You deserve to get the full compensation for what you are going through. New Jersey law provides for your protection, recognizing that workers’ rights matter. In fact, the New Jersey courts are very sympathetic to workers.
You have nothing to lose by understanding your legal rights. It is your injury, and you may be suffering physically, but you shouldn’t have to suffer financially because of a work-related injury.
If you have been hurt at work, we’ll talk to you for free to see if we can help you. Understand your rights! Call today 732-275-9555. This post is not to be considered legal advice: your situation may differ and the law is complicated.
