Don’t feel like you can trust your employer’s chosen doctor or the workers compensation insurance company doctor? You’re smart to suspect there’s a conflict of interest. Yet New Jersey Law gives employers and insurance companies the right to choose the doctor who will evaluate you and offer medical treatment, if any.  If you go to your own doctor while the workers compensation claim is still open, then the medical bills will become your responsibility. However, there is a moment in a workers compensation case where going to your own doctor will be both appropriate and necessary. In the event the insurance company denies your claim, you now have the option to go to the doctor on your own.  Going to Your Own Doctor After a Denied Claim To make sure that doing so will strengthen your case rather than weakening it, you’re going to need to inform your employer and

For the majority of the population, the idea that you may be surveilled at any point in your life sounds ludicrous. That’s the kind of thing that typically happens to spies and movie heroes, not to everyday people. Yet if you’re involved in a workers compensation case, surveillance is a likely outcome. It’s important to understand this, and to account for it.  When is surveillance likely to start? It could start at any point during your case, but the time when it most often happens is when you’ve reached maximum medical improvement and have been given a set of permanent restrictions by your doctor. This is especially true if you haven’t been able to go back on the job because they don’t have light duty available for you. In many workers compensation cases this is the point where the case is about to be settled, and it becomes the point

At some point, many people who end up with an NJ Workers Compensation claim will end up having to make a decision about whether or not to settle that claim.  When you settle, a number of things can happen. Sometimes the insurance company will send money directly to your medical providers while sending your lost wages directly to you in a lump sum. Sometimes all the money will come to you in a lump sum and you will be responsible for reimbursing your medical provider. Sometimes you’ll end up with a structured payment plan. Either way, you’re agreeing to a specific amount, and once that amount is paid, that’s it. The workers compensation insurance company no longer owes you any money. Yet receiving a settlement can often be a better option than constantly fighting to keep the workers compensation benefits flowing, or fighting to get the company to agree to

One reason that people get hurt on the jobs is because employers fail to follow appropriate health and safety standards. Some employers will do anything to keep violations from getting reported, including intimidating employees or claiming they can’t get workers compensation benefits if they report the violation. Yet the law is very clear. Employers may not retaliate against you for reporting an OSHA violation, nor may they deny your workers compensation claim. This doesn’t mean that they won’t try, but it’s not legal and it could open them up to sanctions by the court.  Of course, if you are going to find yourself in the position of having to report an OSHA violation on top of everything else you might want to retain an attorney so you can protect yourself as you do so.  Filing an OSHA violation won’t render you ineligible for benefits either. There is no link between

Employer-sponsored events are a pervasive part of corporate culture. Employers either ask or strongly encourage their employees to participate in various events. Such was the case in a recent New Jersey case recently decided by the State Supreme Court. Here are are the facts of the case: “On September 23., 2017 [Jersey Friendship House] hosted a ‘Family Fun Day’ event for clients and families, and asked employees if they would volunteer. Mrs. Goulding offered to cook, and while she was preparing to grill she stepped into a small pothole on the grounds and fell, injuring her right foot and ankle. She applied for workers compensation, which was denied by a workers comp judge.” –Business Insurance. The judge in the case used the standard that volunteering for the company did not produce a “benefit to the employer” beyond boosting employee health and morale. The Supreme Court disagreed.  Thus, yes, in some

An IME, or Independent Medical Examination, is what happens when the workers compensation insurance company demands that you go to a doctor of their choice so that your injuries may be evaluated. Naturally many workers are nervous about this process because the doctor doesn’t seem entirely objective.  What happens if the doctor lies about the extent of your injuries, claims they were the result of a preexisting condition, or otherwise spins a story that benefits the insurance company at your expense? And who is paying for this anyway? Here’s everything you need to know about IMEs in New Jersey. The insurance company must pay for the IME. If the insurance company wants you to get an independent medical examination they must pay for it. In most cases they must choose a doctor that’s a reasonable distance from your home or workplace.  These arrangements are very lucrative for doctors. There is

Plenty of jobs come with lots of stress, which can lead to mental health issues like anxiety and depression. Sometimes these conditions can be debilitating, making it impossible to work normally. Which makes it natural to ask whether you can get compensation for the damage your job has done to your mind, especially if you need extensive psychiatric interventions to function. Fortunately, the answer is “yes.” What does it take for Workers Comp to cover a mental health issue? As you might imagine, minor mental health issues won’t get coverage. Instead, you will have to demonstrate that your mental health issue is sufficient to make it impossible for you to do your job.  You’ll also need to prove the issue happened at work. This can be difficult, as there are many issues which could trigger a mental illness, and many of them can take place outside of work. In addition,

In many ways, a New Jersey workers compensation claim looks and feels just like a personal injury claim. In other ways they are completely different. In fact, the workers compensation system exists, in part, to protect employers from the kinds of liability that are invoked in a personal injury suit. Employers admit no fault, but take responsibility for the fact that employees do get hurt on the job. Here are some of the other key differences. Difference #1 – No Pain & Suffering Personal injury suits come with pain and suffering damages. In New Jersey, these damages are not capped and can be any amount based solely on the extent to which the victim’s life has changed as a result of the injuries.  As you can imagine these pain and suffering awards can get quite large, and so workers compensation law was written to allow employers to avoid them in