Many people in the work force in New Jersey are injured every day, from construction workers and administrative assistants to police officers. There are different types of accidents that may happen while at work or illnesses that workers develop related to their work:
• slip, trip and fall accident,
• industrial machinery accident,
• motor vehicle accident,
• development of a chronic ailment, such as carpal tunnel, and/or
• falls from heights accident.
In New Jersey, workers/employees who are injured while at work or during the scope of employment are eligible to receive workers’ compensation benefits.
What is Workers’ Compensation?
New Jersey’s Workers’ Compensation Act (N.J.S.A. 34:15-1 et seq.) provides benefits to a worker as a result of a worker’s work-related injury regardless of who is at fault.
Consider the following situation: An administrative assistant is walking to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee, and she slips on a puddle of water on the floor. She falls back and uses her hands to break her fall. As a result, she fractures her wrist.
It turns out that the roof was leaking for quite some time, and the employer forgot to fix it. In this case, the employer was negligent for not fixing the roof. However, under NJ’s Workers’ Compensation Act, the employee cannot sue the employer even if the accident was caused by the employer’s negligence. She can only file a workers’ compensation claim that will provide her with different types of benefits, which will be discussed in part 2 of this article.
Conversely, if the slip and fall accident was due to the employee’s own fault, i.e., the employer put a warning cone around the puddle of water, but the employee still decided to walk through the puddle and fell, she can still receive workers’ compensation benefits.
What Types of Benefits are Available to a Worker Injured at Work?
Injured workers are entitled to receive fair and timely benefits for work-related injuries, and those benefits include:
• medical benefits,
• temporary total benefits,
• permanent partial benefits, and
• permanent total benefits.
For a detailed explanation of workers’ comp benefits, click here to read part 2 of the article regarding NJ’s Workers’ Compensation Act.
Help After a Work Injury
If you were injured at work in a slip and fall accident or other work-related accidents, call Philip T. Ciprietti. Mr. Ciprietti has been helping accident victims in NJ for over 35 years. Mr. Ciprietti is well versed in NJ workers’ compensation law and can help you obtain the benefits you are entitled to. Call 800-281-8695 to schedule a FREE consultation.
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