Work Injury Attorney New Jersey

If you’ve been injured on the job, you may have questions for a work injury attorney New Jersey employees trust at Rispoli & Borneo, P.C. We can answer your questions and review your case at no charge. Only a New Jersey work injury attorney is qualified to offer legal advice. However, in advance of meeting with a lawyer from our law firm, here are answers to questions we’re commonly asked: Work Injuries If you have been injured on the job, a work injury attorney may help you recover your damages and protect your rights. But first, it’s important to understand the basics about work injuries and workers compensation. What is considered a work injury? When an employee is injured in an accident related to their job or due to something in the workplace, this is a work injury. It’s considered an accident that was unforeseeable and unintentional. If you believe that the injury was caused on purpose by your supervisor or employer, call a work injury attorney immediately. I was injured at work. What should I do? If there is any chance that the injury might be serious, you should seek medical treatment immediately. The seriousness may not always be immediately apparent, such as when a person experiences a closed head injury, so even if there is no blood or broken bones, take precautions. If you have not already reported the injury to your supervisor or employer, you may be advised to do this immediately. This is true even if your injury is not serious, or you don’t think it’s serious.

• It may develop into a more serious injury.
• Your employer must be officially notified by yourself or else you won’t be eligible for workers compensation payments or benefits.
• There is a limited timeframe during which you must report the injury. If you wait too long to report it, regardless of how serious your injury is, you may not be able to collect workers comp.
• Once you have reported the injury, your employer can begin the process of submitting your claim to their workers compensation insurance company. If your claim is denied or is unreasonably delayed, a work injury attorney may be able to help you.

I use repetitive motion in my job and recently went to the doctor because my hand hurt. I was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome. Is that considered a work injury? There are many types of occupational injuries that a worker can experience. Because the work itself causes the injury, the employee is eligible for workers compensation. Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common occupational injury.   What is included in workers compensation benefits for a job injury? As soon as the doctor diagnoses your work injury, you should file a workers comp claim and include the documentation from your physician that relates your injury to your occupation. If they deny your claim for any reason, you may wish to contact a work injury attorney NJ residents call first. Though workers compensation does not include pain and suffering, it does provide these benefits:

• Medical cost reimbursement.
• A percentage of your lost wages due to an inability to work because of the injury.
• Permanent injury loss of wages, medical costs, and medical benefits.

What will workers’ compensation do for me? In general, workers cannot sue their employers for injuries that were caused while at the job site or performing work-related duties in another temporary location (such as traveling salesmen). Within workers’ compensation claims, there is a remedy called the exclusive remedy rule, which means the employee can only seek compensation through the benefits program. However, there are exceptions to this rule, which has been described below:

• An employee can sue an employer if intentional misconduct was a factor, meaning that the employer was aware of the harmful effects of the workplace (a common example of this is asbestos or other chemical exposures)
• The employer knew of the hazards in the workplace, but did not remove or warn the employees of its presence. 
• The “punch-press exception”, where an employer removes a safety feature to save on the bottom dollar, but it caused increased danger to workers health

Workers’ comp programs are created to ensure that workers who are hurt get fairly compensation for accidents. Both injuries and illnesses may be covered under workers’ compensation. Employees are not required to show fault on behalf of themselves or the worker before the employee can receive these benefits. In fact, workers’ compensation programs were designed so that fault was not something that had to be disputed. Are there any instances in which an employee doesn’t receive benefits? If the person does work as an independent contractor, seasonal worker, domestic servant, farm worker, or is an employee protected by federal law, then they are not eligible to receive workers compensation benefits. Furthermore, the company may have too few employees or consist of only volunteers, in which case it is not mandatory to have workers’ comp benefits. Despite fault not being a focus when it comes to workers compensation benefits, there are ways that a worker may disqualify themselves from receiving coverage. For instance, if any of these factors played a major part in the accident event happening, then the employee may be denied benefits:

• The worker instigated a fight while in the workplace, which led to injury
• The worker was under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol at the time
• The worker had purposefully caused the accident to happen so they can frauduently use workers’ comp benefits
• The worker was violating a safety regulation or other rule which caused the accident to occur

Contact Our Law Firm Today Whether you or a loved one recently was the victim in a workplace accident, we storngly advise calling our law firm as soon as possible. We can get started protecting your best interests today. Call us at Rispoli & Borneo P.C. without delay to speak with a New Jersey work injury attorney employees turn to for answers when they need legal help.