Many of our clients who are injured on the job also have child support obligations at the time of their injuries. Some are also child support recipients. It’s natural to wonder how your child support might impact your disability benefits. Here’s what you need to know. If You Are Paying Child Support If you have a regular child support payment then the New Jersey Child Support enforcement office can take your payment right out of your benefit amounts, just like they were able to take them out of your paycheck. You will still continue to owe child support. Of course, this can prove financially difficult for some of our clients, as they are now only receiving 70% of their wages, but their child support amount remains the same.  Depending on when you are expected to recover and how well you are expected to recover, you may be able to apply

In New Jersey, you have a right to workers compensation, even if you have a pre-existing or chronic condition. Under New Jersey law, employers are considered to have  hired you “as you are,” which means that they took you with all the conditions you came to them with.  In fact, you are entitled to compensation for the exacerbation if the workplace injury made your pre-existing condition worse.  Here’s what you need to know about how a pre-existing condition could impact your claim. Your employer could dispute causality. Even though employers may not deny your claim on the basis of the existence of a pre-existing condition, you nevertheless will have to prove that the condition was “aggravated, accelerated, or combined with the pre-existing disease or infirmary to produce the disability for which compensation is sought.” (Sexton v. County of Cumberland).  This means you’ll have to prove that there was true medical

False allegations of workers compensation fraud are quite common. There are some people who would like you to believe that every time someone files a workers compensation claim they’re committing some form of fraud. Workers compensation companies get to deny claims they believe to be fraudulent, so they’re more than a little incentivized to make fraud allegations. The person so accused faces not only the prospect of absorbing all of their medical bills and lost wages themselves, but the possibility of jail time. Under Section 34:15 – 57.4 of the New Jersey Revised Statute, fraud is a felony.  Workers compensation fraud is not limited to workers. Employers also commit their own forms of workers compensation fraud, including by failing to carry workers compensation insurance in the first place and by misclassification of employees. Nevertheless, this post specifically addresses allegations of worker fraud.    Types of Fraud If a worker does commit

Workplace shootings are, sadly, becoming much more common. We’re even seeing them in places where we don’t normally expect guns to come out. Workplace violence is on the rise generally, and there are places where the employees have always faced the possibility of violence, such as hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, emergency services, and even convenience stores. Most incidents aren’t as dangerous as a shooting, but the statistics do serve to demonstrate that many employees risk their lives every time they go to work in the morning.  As the public becomes angrier and better armed it’s possible that anyone who works with customers could be in danger of getting shot on the job. Under New Jersey law, those injuries would be covered by workers compensation. Any instance of violence in the workplace is covered by workers compensation if: The injury arose out of the course of your employment. You did not instigate

Recently two petitions went before the Supreme Court, both covering states that did not want to cover medical cannabis in workers compensation claims. States tend to make the argument that the request to be reimbursed for medical marijuana violates federal law.  Here in New Jersey, courts have already ruled that workers compensation should cover medical cannabis. The case was settled in Hagar vs. MSK Construction. The cases the Supreme Court passed on came out of Minnesota and New Mexico.  Prior to declining to hear the case, the Supreme Court consulted with the Department of Justice. The DoJ urged the Supreme Court to stay out of it.   What does it mean that the Supreme Court won’t hear the cases?  It doesn’t mean anything for your New Jersey workers compensation benefits if medical marijuana is part of your treatment plan.  If the Supreme Court had heard the case it might have secured

While few workers compensation cases go to court, you will at some point have to make a statement. While you may not, strictly speaking, have to “testify,” you may have to make statements in a deposition or answer questions at a settlement hearing. A few employees really will have to testify in the rare event that the case does go to trial. The thing to realize is that telling your story is important. It’s an opportunity to help everyone understand how the accident has impacted your life. A good workers compensation attorney takes the time to prepare you for your testimony. We’ll coach you on how to answer questions, on the most likely questions to expect, and on how to answer as effectively as possible.  Common Questions Most questions are quite routine. You’ll be asked about your job duties and the physical requirements of your job. You’ll be asked about

It’s tragic but true: many work injuries end in amputation. A prosthetic can help restore quality of life and even the ability to continue working, but they are costly. A low-end prosthetic can cost as much as $5000, whereas a high-end prosthetic can cost up to $70,000. A high end prosthetic such as a myoelectric prosthesis offers movable fingers and a considerable return to functionality.   New Jersey Law pays out an amount of loss of function equal to a number of weeks according to the workers compensation chart. If you lose 25% of your hand or foot function you will be compensated for three weeks of work in addition to what you’re paid while you’re out of work, and in addition to your medical bills.  The number of weeks varies by the amount of function loss. If you lose 50% of your hand function then you are paid for 150