When NJ workers are injured while at work, they are eligible to receive workers’ compensation benefits. If the accidents are caused by the employers’ negligence, injured workers will receive benefits. Even if the accidents are caused by the workers’ own negligence or fault, they will still receive benefits. However, the tradeoff is that workers may not sue their employers in a lawsuit if the accidents are caused by the employers. This is how New Jersey’s workers’ compensation law works. There are very limited circumstances, however, where workers may sue their employers in civil lawsuits, and I will discuss those limited circumstances and related issues in another article.
Pursuant to NJ’s workers’ compensation law, injured workers may receive the following benefits after being injured at work:
- medical benefits,
- temporary total benefits,
- permanent partial benefits, and
- permanent total benefits.
As discussed in a previous article in our NJ workers’ compensation library, medical benefits cover any reasonable and necessary medical treatments, prescriptions, surgeries, etc.
Temporary total benefits compensate an injured worker or employee who is not able to work temporarily for a period of time. In other words, an injured worker receives wage loss benefits. However, the injured worker does not receive 100% of his lost wages. For a detailed discussion of medical and temporary total benefits, see Injured at Work? Benefits You May Receive Under NJ’s Workers’ Compensation Act.
The remainder of this article will discuss permanent partial benefits.
Permanent Partial Benefits
After a work place injury, an injured worker or employee may be permanently partially disabled from the injury sustained. The injured worker can return to work; however, he may be partially disabled. In this situation, New Jersey workers’ compensation law provides disability compensation to the injured worker. The amount of benefits is based upon a percentage of “scheduled” or “nonscheduled” losses according to a chart provided by the NJ Division of Workers’ Compensation.
A “scheduled” loss involves the following body parts:
- arms,
- hands,
- fingers,
- legs,
- feet,
- toes,
- eyes,
- ears, or
- teeth.
A “non-scheduled” loss involves any area or system of the body not specifically identified in the schedule, such as:
- the back,
- the heart, and
- the lungs.
These benefits are paid to the injured workers weekly and after the date temporary disability ends.
Click here to continue to part 2 of this article which provides an example of how permanent partial benefits work.
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