Filing Your Workers’ Comp Claim In New Jersey

After a work-related injury, your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance carrier should be providing you with reasonable medical benefits and lost wages. If you have lost a loved one in a work accident, you and your family should be receiving reasonable death benefits. If you feel that you are not receiving proper workers’ compensation or death benefits, it is important to understand how to file your claim. There are both formal and informal claims that can be made in New Jersey.

Our lawyers at Fedele & Honschke are very experienced in helping injured clients with filing workers’ compensation claims in Ocean County, Monmouth County and across the state. This can be a complicated process, so it is important that you have a lawyer on your side who will be able to file the proper paperwork, attend hearings on your behalf and more.

An advocate who is doing everything he or she can to seek fair workers’ comp benefits for you and your family can make all the difference during what is a difficult time. Reach out to us at our Toms River, New Jersey, law firm to discuss your case. You can also read below for more general information about filing for a claim in New Jersey.

Procedural Guidelines For New Jersey Workers’ Comp Claims

When there is a dispute between the injured worker and the employer/workers’ comp insurance carrier, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development lays out specific procedural guidelines for how to file a claim. Disputes can be over payment of benefits, the amount of benefits, coverage of benefits, permanent disability, eligibility of the injury or whether it is work-related, just to name some of the common issues that arise in workers’ comp claims.

There are two routes an injured worker can go about when filing a claim with the Division of Workers’ Compensation in New Jersey:

The first is an informal route. This means filing an application for an informal hearing. There is an informal hearing before a judge where he or she will make an impartial decision on the issue at hand.

However, either party can move on to the second formal route as the decision is not binding. A formal complaint must be filed within two years of the date of the injury or last payment received. The later date is always the one that applies. This two-year statutory limitations period must be adhered to, otherwise a worker loses his or her right to file a formal complaint.

The formal hearing is generally within six months of the filing and is a binding decision. The only way to appeal the decision is if the Appellate Division of the Superior Court in New Jersey agrees to review the appeal. As you can see, it is beneficial to have an attorney represent or counsel you for any of these filings, whether informal, formal or at the appellate level.