Tag: temporary disability benefits
Respondent Defeats Alleged Claim of Aggravation and Motion for Medical and Temporary Disability Benefits Seeking Payment for Five Spinal Surgeries
Cases involving aggravation of preexisting conditions are quite common in workers’ compensation and are often complex. Adequately addressing such claims requires obtaining the pre-accident medical treatment records and obtaining expert opinion on whether the work accident aggravated the prior condition. Donald Smith v. H & H Transportation, Inc., No. A-3568-21 (App. Div. December 20, 2023) […]
Appellate Division Holds Employee Who Worked and Attended School Is Eligible for Temporary Disability Benefits After Unemployment Benefits Terminated
There are not many cases involving eligibility for temporary disability benefits while attending school. The case of Soto v. Hoosier Care, Inc., No. A-0507-22 (App. Div. December 11, 2023) discusses this issue directly. The facts in the opinion are threadbare, and the reader will have many more questions than answers after reading this decision. The […]
A Practitioner’s Guide to Benefits Provided Under New Jersey Workers’ Compensation
There are three types of benefits provided by employers to employees in NJ workers’ compensation, in those cases that are accepted and not being questioned: 1. Medical benefits (a major benefit to employers in New Jersey is that the employer directs the medical care); 2. Temporary disability (“TTD”), which is for wage loss while an […]
Advice To Employers In Dealing With Complex TTD Scenarios
Practical Advice in New Jersey Workers’ Compensation The general rule is that an injured worker is entitled to TTD for the time frame that the authorized treating doctor placed the employee out of work. Pursuant to Monaco v. Albert Maund, Inc., 17 N.J. Super. 425 (App. Div.), 21 N.J. Super. 443 (App. Div. 1952), generally, […]
Does An Employer Owe Temporary Disability Benefits When An Injured Worker Returns To A Second Job But Is Unable To Return To The Injury-Connected Job?
Few scenarios generate more questions from clients than whether a carrier or third party administrator in New Jersey can cut off temporary disability benefits when an employee engages in part-time employment while receiving temporary disability benefits for the job-connected injury. This is a much bigger issue than it was 30 years ago precisely because so […]
Appellate Division Holds Officer’s Injury to Knee Wearing 25 Pounds of Equipment Was Not Idiopathic
The idiopathic defense is not an easy one for employers to prevail on in New Jersey. The basic concept is that the injury is not a result of any particular work effort and could happen anywhere, such as walking along a work corridor and suddenly feeling pain in one’s knee without falling or tripping. But […]
Full Salary Provisions Under New Jersey Workers’ Compensation
Employees who are out of work due to work injuries or illnesses are eligible for temporary disability benefits at a rate of 70% of wages subject to an annual maximum. In 2018 that maximum is $903 per week. That means that the employee who earns $2,000 per week or even $20,000 per week is limited […]
When Should a Judge Reconstruct An Employee’s Wages for Permanency Purposes?
The concept of reconstructing wages for permanency awards pertains to part-time workers with serious injuries. For example, consider an employee who works 20 hours per week earning $10 per hour. The employee has a serious injury that prevents the employee from earning the same amount of money or prevents the employee from working full-time in […]
Appellate Division Rejects Reopener of Psychiatric Award 18 Years Post Injury
It is challenging for a petitioner to relate an increase in disability or need for treatment to a relatively modest award that has remained unchanged for over a decade. That was the situation in Batts v. Flag House, A-5616-15T4 (App. Div. January 16, 2018). The case involved an award of 50% disability of the right […]
Appellate Division Holds Statutory Volunteers Must Prove Actual Wage Loss In Order to Obtain Temporary Disability Benefits
After decades of confusion over the issue of paying temporary disability benefits to volunteer firefighters who have no outside jobs, practitioners finally received an answer from the Appellate Division in Kocanowski v. Township of Bridgewater, A-3306-15T2, (App. Div. December 11, 2017). The case involved a volunteer firefighter with the Finderne Fire Engine Company in Bridgewater […]
Appellate Court Reverses Order for Temporary Disability Benefits Against One of Two Potential Employers Where Employment Was Disputed
When a petitioner files a motion for medical and temporary disability benefits and the only issue is which carrier or employer is responsible, the Judge of Compensation can order benefits paid by one of the parties pending the outcome of litigation. The logic behind this rule is that it is unfair to delay benefits to […]
Why New Jersey Comp Law Holds That One Who Has Been Fired Is Not Entitled To Temporary Disability Benefits Unless He Or She Would Have Been Working Another Job
One of the most controversial issues in New Jersey workers’ compensation has to do with whether an injured worker who has been fired is entitled to temporary disability benefits. The leading case is Cunningham v. Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Co., 386 N.J. Super. 423 (App. Div.), certif. denied, 188 N.J. 402 (2006). That case was […]
Appellate Division Holds That New York Worker Who Accepted A Job Offer While In New Jersey Was Hired In New Jersey Conferring Jurisdiction In New Jersey
When an employee returns to work following a work injury, in many states that ends the workers’ compensation case, but not in New Jersey. In our state, that just moves the case to the final stage of permanency benefits for loss of function of the body member. The availability of loss of function awards following […]
Recent Developments in New Jersey Workers’ Compensation
There have been a number of developments in the Division of Workers’ Compensation in 2015 of which practitioners should be aware: Retirement of Director Peter J. Calderone, After 13 years of service as Director of the Division of Workers’ Compensation and 39 years of service to the State of New Jersey, Chief Judge and Director […]
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