One of the most frustrating things about dealing with worker’s compensation is dealing with the insurer itself. It’s not uncommon for your doctor to recommend a treatment, only to have the insurance company deny coverage for it. It seems intensely unfair. How can an insurance adjuster, who never went to medical school, look at you and your doctor and tell you that your procedure isn’t “medically necessary?“ Or, how can they say the procedure that’s been proposed has nothing to do with the injury you took on the job, when it’s so clear and obvious that it has everything to do with it? See also: Repetitive Stress Injuries and NJ Worker’s Comp. The problem is, insurers stay in business by looking for every reason to deny coverage they can find. They aren’t really concerned with straightforward common sense or fairness. They’re concerned with making a case that allows them to

Workman’s compensation fraud is serious. It is a crime, and it carries steep penalties. Many people immediately think of workers who fake injuries when they think of workman’s compensation fraud. Or workers who claim disabilities well after healing has taken place. And this form of fraud does, in fact, happen. So does a form of fraud perpetrated by employers, who fail to obtain or maintain adequate workman’s comp coverage. But there are simple mistakes that good, honest workers make when they are dealing with workman’s comp that can get them accused of fraud, even if all their actions were innocent. #1) Failing to report changes in employment status. “Misrepresenting your job status while collecting disability benefits” is one of the first definitions of workman’s comp fraud in the statute as written. Any change in work status must be reported both to your employer and to the insurance company. This could

As in any case where insurance companies are involved, you will typically receive some sort of settlement offer in your case. And at times, the offer won’t be a very good one. Fortunately, you can reject the offer. And the case isn’t over when you do. See also: 8 Workman’s Comp Mistakes to Avoid. Step #1: Your NJ Workman’s Comp Attorney Renegotiates the Settlement The next step requires an attorney if you don’t have one already. Your attorney will sit down with the insurance company and a Judge of Compensation. Together, everyone will review the settlement offer and discuss the problems that caused you to reject it. Usually the insurance company will issue a new offer. See also: Delay in Your Workman’s Compensation Claim: What You Can Do Step #2: Evaluating the New Offer If, after discussing the new offer with your attorney, you determine that it’s fair and workable,

Repetitive stress injuries (RSI) have been making headlines lately. While carpel tunnel is the most well-known of this family of injuries, there are many others. These musculoskeletal disorders can also strike knees, shoulders, the rotator cuff, the lower back, and the elbows. And if your work is causing these injuries, they’re covered by workman’s comp. Determining Whether RSIs are Work Injuries To close off avenues whereby your employer may challenge the work-based nature of the injury, it’s important to cover your bases. Your first step will be to go see your own doctor. Bring a job description. If the injury is aggravated every time you work, that’s a good clue that it’s work related, but a doctor can verify it. Note that you are not trying to establish that no other activity exacerbates the injury. If you’re having problems at work you may be having problems at home, too. What

Workman’s compensation isn’t straightforward. Like any legal proceeding, there are a lot of steps to get through. And that means a lot of places you can derail your own claim if you’re not careful. #1) Failing to report to your employer. Creating an incident report and giving it to your supervisor and HR is going to be your first step unless you’re unconscious and unable to move after your injury, or are too hurt in other ways. Reporting starts the claim. And while this might worry you, the truth is the incident report is the first piece of evidence the accident took place on the job. The last thing you want is for your employer to try to make a case that the injury took place while you were at home. Remember, “fault” doesn’t enter into a workman’s comp claim. What matters is that you were injured while working, period.

If you are one of the 22,000 people in New Jersey who has been authorized to use medical marijuana to manage your pain, then this issue is bound to cause you some worry when you’re in the middle of a workman’s comp claim. As it happens, this is an issue that’s been getting some resolution recently. A Recent Case In the 2018 case McNeary v. Freehold Township the Honorable Judge Lionel Simon ordered Mr. McNeary’s workman’s comp insurance company to cover the cost of his medical marijuana use so long as a doctor was willing to continue to provide evidence of his need for it. In his ruling, Simon said that it was clear to him that the legislative intent of federal drug laws is to “curtail the use and distribution of illicit narcotics for the purposes of the overall general health.” He said he did not believe the New

There are over 127,000 temporary workers in the state of New Jersey. And if you’re one of them, you may be surprised to learn you absolutely are entitled to workman’s comp if you get injured on an assignment. There’s a reason not many people know. For one thing, some publications erroneously report temp workers aren’t entitled to workman’s comp. What they might mean is the third-party employer who owns the job site isn’t responsible for it. And temp employees don’t often get it, in part because employers are all-too-willing to lie about it. Knowing your rights is the first step to protecting yourself. You probably need workman’s comp even more than full-time employees do. Workplace conditions can be more dangerous for temporary workers than for full-time employees. There are three reasons for this. First, light industrial jobs dominate the industry, which means we’re already talking about warehouse and assembly jobs