Workers' compensation was invented in Germany in the 1800's, spread to other European countries and to the US in the early 1900's. If you have an employment-related injury or occupational disease, preserve your legal rights by consulting with a skilled workers' compensation lawyer.
New Jersey Attorneys Helping Injured Workers
Many people who have been injured at work become overwhelmed with things like the physical pain, medical bills and meeting day-to-day expenses. Understanding the workers' compensation process can seem even more overwhelming. The experienced trial attorneys at Ginsberg & O'Connor, P.C., in Mt. Laurel can help you through the workers' compensation process.
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We are focused on helping injured workers throughout New Jersey obtain the compensation they deserve for their injuries. If your construction or workplace injury resulted from someone else's negligence, carelessness, recklessness or intentional misconduct, you may be able to recover compensation under a "third-party" suit.
In a third-party suit, you may be able to sue the negligent person or a manufacturer of the defective product or machine that caused your injury. In such a case, we can pursue your full and adequate recovery for injuries beyond workers' compensation.
The New Jersey workers' compensation system has specific limitations that do not allow injured employees to sue for more compensation if the benefits do not cover all expenses related to the injury. It typically provides for your medical costs and lost wages, but you should consult with our attorneys to understand the scope of options you have for covering additional costs. Call us toll free at 800-598-3944, or contact us online to schedule a free initial consultation with an experienced trial lawyer at Ginsberg & O'Connor, P.C.
Workers' Compensation - An Overview
U.S. employers and their employees rely on our dependable workers' compensation system to resolve disputes about vocational injuries and disease and to provide for related worker needs. Workers' compensation benefits are commonly awarded for work-related injury, illness and death, helping to meet the needs of injured workers and their families even when faced with overwhelming situations. If you or your family member is injured or becomes sick in the course of employment, a workers' compensation lawyer from Ginsberg & O'Connor, P.C. in Mount Laurel, NJ, can assess your potential workers' compensation claim.
History and Origin
The idea of workers' compensation has its origins in Germany in the early 1800's. The industrial revolution brought dangerous new workplaces into existence such as railroads, factories and mines with accompanying increases in injuries, deaths and new work-related diseases. Social and political sympathy for the common worker grew and led to the enactment of early workers' compensation legislation.
The concept soon spread to other European nations, ultimately resulting in an 1897 British law that was the impetus for the first U.S. workers' compensation laws. Almost all U.S. states had some type of workers' compensation system by the 1920's. The federal government followed suit for most federal employees and for certain industries.
Prior to the establishment of workers' compensation, English and American laws were inadequate to protect workers harmed in increasingly hazardous industrial jobs. Ordinary employees rarely had the financial means to bring negligence lawsuits against their employers; when they did, employers usually relied on one of three defenses, dubbed the unholy trinity, to defeat the claims. An employer usually defended such a suit by asserting that a co-employee was instead responsible, that the injured worker had contributed negligently to the accident or that the employee had assumed the risk of injury by accepting the job.
Theory and Policy
Workers' compensation provides an exclusive remedy to the employee for work-related injury and sickness without regard to fault, when the harm arises out of and in the course of employment. The worker gives up the right to sue his or her employer for the harm in return for automatic monetary recovery, usually for lost wages and medical expenses, but sometimes including other types of benefits. To its advantage, the employer no longer has to worry about defending lawsuits or about disproportionate awards.
States require that employers carry workers' compensation insurance, set aside sufficient resources to cover claims (self-insure) or contribute to state-run workers' compensation award funds. The allowable methods for employer payment vary by state.
The social and economic policy behind workers' compensation is that these employer "costs" are ultimately paid by society as a whole in the form of higher prices for goods and services. Some theorize that the cost of the program is actually covered by lower wages, but that the trade-off to workers is well worth it. Workers' compensation is also seen as an incentive to employers to develop safer workplaces.
Exceptions
Most states have developed exceptions to the exclusiveness of the workers' compensation remedy in extreme situations. When employers act in bad faith or intentionally or criminally harm employees, many states allow workers to bring lawsuits against their employers outside the workers' compensation system. A lawsuit against a third party may also be possible, such as against a manufacturer of faulty equipment that causes an injury. In such circumstances, the employer may be able to get reimbursement for workers' compensation benefits already paid.
Speak to a Workers' Compensation Lawyer
If you have questions about a workers' compensation claim, a workers' compensation attorney at Ginsberg & O'Connor, P.C. in Mount Laurel, NJ, can answer them and advise you of your legal rights.
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