Cherry Hill Workers’ Compensation Claims

If you have been injured at your place of employment, you may be able to make a Cherry Hill workers’ compensation claim. However, before making a claim, you should understand the circumstances which may allow you to receive or prohibit you from receiving compensation. It is strongly recommended to speak with an experienced workers’ comp attorney before filing a claim.

How do Wages Impact Workers’ Compensation Claims?

Once the carrier establishes the average weekly wage, the temporary benefits would be 70% of that number. However, there is a cap on the amount of compensation that can be awarded in a successful workers’ comp claim. The maximum amount for 2021 is $969.

For people in high-paying jobs, being out on workers’ compensation may not be ideal because they would earn significantly less money every week than they would have if they were working. For example, if a person had a very high-paying job and made $3,000 per week before becoming injured, they would not get 70% of $3,000, they would hit the cap and only receive $969 per week.

Workers’ comp is much more beneficial for people who have lower-paying jobs. A person who earns $500 per week may potentially earn $350 per week when they are out on workers’ compensation, which is closer to their take-home pay.

Workers’ Compensation Claims in Private Sector Companies vs. Federal Sector Companies

Workers’ comp claims are regulated both publicly and privately. People who work for the state or any government agency could be considered publicly regulated, and people who work for any other privately held company would be privately regulated.

Most workers’ compensation claims in Cherry Hill, however, fall under state law and the Workers’ Compensation Act of the State of New Jersey. For federal employees, there is a federal workers’ compensation that is completely different, and those claims are dealt with in federal court, not in state court.

Workers’ Comp Claims and Unemployment Benefits in Cherry Hill

In order to collect unemployment benefits, a person must swear to the unemployment office that they are ready, willing, and able to work. That is antithetical to workers’ compensation claims, because in order to collect workers’ comp benefits, they have to have an injury on the job and be unable to work. Someone cannot be able to work and unable to work at the same time.

If a Cherry Hill workers’ compensation claim is denied, but the injured worker disagrees and still believes they are unable to work, rather than collecting unemployment, they would be better served by applying for state temporary disability benefits, which is a similar benefit to unemployment. It is essentially unemployment for people who cannot work.

When applying for state temporary disability benefits, a person should have a doctor sign a certification that they are unable to work. If they do collect those benefits and still pursue the workers’ compensation claim, there is an offset that may eventually occur. In other words, whatever the state pays in the temporary disability benefits, they could ask the worker to sign a document that says if they go out and collect workers’ compensation benefits, they are obligated to repay the state temporary disability benefits that they already collected. It creates a lien on a Cherry Hill workers’ compensation claim that has to be repaid when the workers’ comp case resolves.