In New Jersey, as in other states, when you suffer an injury at work, you are entitled to pursue workers’ compensation benefits to cover lost wages, medical expenses and other costs. There are only two requirements to qualify for benefits—you must have been injured and your injury must have occurred during the course of your employment. In most instances, there is no dispute that you were injured at work. But there are circumstances where the rules may not be so clear. Here are a couple of those instances.

Injuries Incurred at a Company Event

Suppose your company sponsors an event—a golf outing or a picnic—and you slip and fall at the outing, sustaining injuries that prevent you from working. In most instances, whether attendance at the event was voluntary or mandatory, you’ll have the right to seek and recover workers’ compensation benefits for injuries you have suffered. There are exceptions, however, if your behavior was unreasonable. For example, if you become inebriated at a company event and get behind the wheel of a car, you may be precluded from recovering workers’ compensation benefits if you are involved in a car accident, unless you can show that the company provided the alcohol.

Injuries Caused by Your Own Wrongful Conduct

What if your injuries were caused, in part, by your own negligence or carelessness? Typically, that won’t prevent you from recovering workers’ compensation benefits, as workers’ compensation laws are “no fault” statutes, meaning benefits are available regardless of fault. However, if it can be shown that you intentionally injured yourself to collect benefits or recklessly disregarded company rules, your claim can be rejected.

Contact Us

At Taylor & Boguski, we bring more than 70 years of combined legal experience to people throughout New Jersey. For a free initial consultation, contact our office online or call us at 856-200-8989.

We represent clients in workers’ compensation proceedings on a contingent fee basis. We won’t charge you attorney fees unless we recover compensation for your losses.