NJ WORKERS' COMPENSATION - REPORT YOUR INJURY TO YOUR EMPLOYER

The importance of reporting your workplace injury

When you are injured while on the job, it is extremely important to notify your employer of the accident in order to protect the rights you may have in making a worker’s compensation claim. Although the rules in New Jersey allow a period of up to 90 days to inform your employer, it is recommended that you report the accident as soon as possibly. Often, an injured employee may not realize the severity of the injuries until after 90 days have passed and may be blocked from making a claim for Worker’s Compensation benefits.

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Such was the situation in Alvarez v. Continental Airlines, A-3039-12T3 (App. Div. October 18, 2013). In this case, an International Service Manager for Continental Airlines slipped and fell inside an airplane on October 21, 2001, striking his head, shoulders and neck on the airplane’s floor. Instead of reporting the injury to his employer, he instead self-treated his injuries.

For unrelated reasons, the injured worker took a leave of absence and returned to work 6 months later, however by this time the pain from his injury was too great for him to continue working. At this time, he sought treatment from his Employer’s approved medical provider and could not return to work for an entire year.

After that year, the injured worker attempted to file a claim for worker’s compensation benefits. The employer denied that claim for failure to timely report an injury. After several years in court, a Judge of Compensation dismissed the case for failure to provide timely notice. Ultimately, the injured worker lost out on any permanency claims of worker’s compensation benefits, as the court found he did not report the injury and the employer had no way of knowing about the injury within the 90 days.

If you have been injured on the job, contact Simon Law Group and speak with a NJ Workers' Compensation Attorney at 800-709-1131 or complete the form on the left of this page.

WORKERS' COMPENSATION - HEAD INJURY - NJ Workers' Comp Attorney

Head Injury - According to Wikipedia

Any injury that results in trauma to the scalp, skull, or brain can be classified as a head injury. The terms traumatic brain injury and head injury are often used interchangeably in medical literature.[1] This broad classification includes neuronal injuries, hemorrhages, vascular injuries, cranial nerve injuries, and subdural hygromas, among many others.[2] These classifications can be further categorized as open (penetrating) or closed head injuries. This depends on if the skull was broken or not.[3] Because head injuries cover such a broad scope of injuries, there are many causes—including accidents, falls, physical assault, or traffic accidents—that can cause head injuries. Many of these are minor, but some can be severe enough to require hospitalization.[4]

The incidence (number of new cases) of head injury is 1.7 million people in the United States alone each year. About 3% of these incidences lead to death. Adults suffer head injuries more frequently than any age group. Their injuries tend to be due to falls, motor vehicle crashes, colliding or being struck by an object, and assaults. Children, however, tend to experience head injuries due to accidental falls and intentional causes (such as being struck or shaken). Head injury usually occurs in toddlers as they learn to walk. Head trauma is a common cause of childhood hospitalization.[5]

Unlike a broken bone where trauma to the body is obvious, head trauma can sometimes be obvious or discrete. In the case of an open head injury, the skull is cracked and broken by an object that makes contact with the brain. This leads to bleeding. Other obvious symptoms can be neurological in nature. The person may become sleepy, behave abnormally, lose consciousness, vomit, develop a severe headache, have mismatched pupil sizes, and/or be unable to move certain parts of the body.[3] While these symptoms happen right after head injury occurs, many problems can develop later in life. Alzheimer’s disease, for example, is much more likely to develop in a person who has experienced a head injury.[6]

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If you have been injured on the job, contact Simon Law Group and speak with a NJ Workers' Compensation Attorney at 800-709-1131 or complete the form on the left of this page.