New Jersey Workers’ Compensation for Workplace Accidents & Diseases
The New Jersey Workers’ Compensation statute provides benefits for any accidents or diseases that arise out of and in the course of the employment. In order to determine whether you are entitled to benefits, your New Jersey workers’ compensation lawyer will first need to determine if you suffered an “injury by accident” and/or occupational disease.
Meaning of “Injury by Accident”
The concept of injury by accident is liberally interpreted under New Jersey’s Workers’ Compensation Law. But the question becomes how to define the specific term “accident.” Courts have defined an “accident” as a definite event, which can be fixed by time and place. Injury by accident also includes incidents where internal parts of the physical structure breakdown under external forces including the stress of labor.
Your New Jersey workers’ compensation lawyer will look at the specific facts in your case to determine if you suffered an injury by accident at work and are eligible for workers’ compensation benefits.
Meaning of “Occupational Disease”
An occupational disease is fully compensable under New Jersey worker’s compensation law. Specifically, it is identified in the Worker’s Compensation Act of New Jersey as “all diseases arising out of an in the course of the employment, which are due in a material degree to causes and conditions which are or were characteristic of or peculiar to a particular trade, occupation, process or place of employment.”
In this context, the word disease is used to represent the types of injuries, disabilities, or conditions that are not the result of a singular accident or trauma. Examples of occupational illnesses or diseases include asbestosis, lead poisoning or hearing loss.
To ensure your eligibility for benefits, your New Jersey workers’ compensation lawyer may need to educate your doctor on what is an occupational disease, so that your doctor can make the correct diagnosis and explain its cause.
Scope of Employment Element
In order to be compensated for accidents or occupational diseases, your lawyer will need to prove that they arose out of and in the course of employment. The injury need only be causally related to the conditions of work. This means that you must have suffered the accident or disease while reasonably fulfilling your duties of employment.
Contact Us
For more information or to schedule a complimentary consultation with a New Jersey workers’ compensation lawyer, call Dan Matrafajlo at (908) 248-4404.