When you’ve been hurt on the job in New Jersey, your first course of action will likely be to file for workers’ compensation to cover lost wages. Technically, New Jersey is not a “wage loss” claim state for workers’ compensation purposes. Instead, injured workers are entitled to disability benefits, which can be partial or total, or temporary or permanent, based on the nature of the injury.
Temporary Total Disability Benefits
If you are unable to work at all because of your injury, you may be entitled to “total disability” payments for a specified period of time. You cannot start to recover total disability benefits, though, until you have been unable to work for a period of at least seven days. Once you meet that threshold, you may be eligible for payments, typically at a rate of 70% of your average weekly wage (AWW) for the 26 week period immediately prior to your injury. There’s both a minimum and a maximum that can be paid, though. Your benefits cannot exceed 75% of the New Jersey state average weekly wage, and must be at least 20% of the that amount.
Temporary total disability payments are only available if you are unable to work at all because of your injury. If your doctor clears you to return to work, your benefit payments will typically be discontinued. In addition, if you have reached what is known as “maximum medical improvement (MMI), where your doctor determines that you won’t get any better, the temporary benefits will be terminated and you may be eligible for some level of permanent benefits.
Contact Us
To arrange a private meeting, contact us by e-mail or call our office at 609-771-8611. Evening and weekend meetings are available upon request. We take all major credit cards.
We handle all workers’ compensation cases on a contingency basis. There will be no attorney fees unless we get compensation for your losses.
