If you are injured at work, it can be a traumatic experience – you are out of work, your medical bills and household bills are piling up, and you don’t know when you will be able to return to work. You need the counsel and advice of a New Jersey workers’ compensation attorney. Following your injury, you should immediately notify your employer. Your employer should send you to an authorized doctor for treatment. To ensure that you receive all of the benefits to which you are entitled, consult with the workers’ comp specialists at Petro Cohen, P.C..
Our dedicated staff offers these suggestions to provide guidance through the complex maze of workers’ comp claims and cases. Remember:
- Report your injury to your employer.
- Once your employer accepts the claim and gives you a claim number, seek treatment with the designated doctor.
- Cooperate with your employer and follow through with treatment.
- Keep good documentation of your medical treatment, as it will be very helpful in making the process smoother.
- Speak with a workers’ compensation attorney sooner, rather than later, to make sure you are getting all the benefits you deserve.
Keep in mind, when you are injured on the job or when your work causes or worsens a medical condition, you are entitled to these three benefits.
1. Temporary Disability – These are tax-free weekly benefits representing 70% of your gross weekly wage, payable up to 400 weeks. These benefits are payable while you are temporarily unable to work because of a work-related medical condition and underactive medical treatment.
2. Medical Treatment – All reasonable and necessary medical charges to treat your work related medical condition are payable by the workers’ compensation insurance carrier. The carrier has at least the initial right to authorize specific physicians who are competent to treat your condition. If a problem arises concerning the medical treatment you require, you have the right (with our legal assistance) to make an application to a Judge of Workers’ Compensation for a determination as to what, if any, additional compensable medical treatment you require.
3. Permanent Partial Disability – This is additional compensation which is payable to you if, after your completion of compensable medical treatment, you have a measurable loss of physical function proven by “demonstrable objective medical evidence.” This benefit can be payable to you even if you are able to return to work and have made an excellent recovery.
In order to obtain the full benefits permitted by law, you should be represented by a competent and experienced workers’ compensation attorney. For more information regarding your claim, contact a NJ workers’ comp lawyer at Petro Cohen, P.C. Click here or call us today at (888) 675-7607 for a consultation with one of our workers’ comp attorneys in Northfield, Cherry Hill, and Cape May Court House.
