Although employees are all aware that they have the ability to seek workers’ compensation when they are injured on the job, many workers in New Jersey would not be able to tell you exactly what kind of benefits are available, and the circumstances under which they may be entitled to them. Let’s look briefly these benefits.
One of the primary types of benefits injured works may be eligible to receive is medical benefits. This includes not only hospital bills, but also prescriptions and other medical treatments deemed necessary and reasonable. Employers are normally allowed to select health care providers for their workers, except in cases of emergency or when the employer wrongly refuses to provide treatment.
In cases where a workplace injury causes a worker to be disabled for over seven days, they are eligible to receive temporary total disability benefits. These benefits end when the worker is able to go back to work in some capacity or when the condition will not improve with additional medical treatment. Where the worker is left with permanent injuries, permanent disability benefits may kick in. These benefits may be either total or partial, as the case may be.
Workers who have suffered permanent injury as a result of on-the-job injuries are smart to work with an experienced attorney. Doing so ensures that they receive what is due to them. This is especially important in cases where the problems come up in the workers’ compensation process or when benefits are inadequate and the worker may be entitled to seek benefits outside the workers’ compensation system.
In our next post, we’ll take a look at workers’ compensation death benefits.
Source: “New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development,” Accessed Mar. 25, 2015.