Second Injury Fund
New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Attorney
The state of New Jersey has established a fund that is intended to insulate employers from responsibility for preexisting injuries thereby eliminating the disincentive of hiring an employee who has a prior illness or injury. The New Jersey Second Injury Fund assumes any and all liability for workers’ compensation benefits attributable to prior injuries or illnesses when a worker subsequently becomes totally disabled as a result of a workplace injury. The workers’ compensation lawyers at our New Jersey law firm, New Jersey Workers Compensation Lawyer of JFM Law, have the experience and know-how to make sure that a Second Injury Fund and related total disability case is properly presented to the Workers’ Compensation Court and the employer’s insurer.
The New Jersey Second Injury Fund & Total Disability
The Second Injury Fund only comes into play when an individual is totally disabled and that disability is the result of the combination of at least two events – the current injury and some prior injury or illness. There are basically three elements that must be established in order to recover from the New Jersey Second Injury Fund and they are: (1) the injured worker is totally disabled; (2) the disabling event was the result of a valid, timely and compensable New Jersey workplace injury; and (3) a preexisting injury(s) or illness(es) contributed in causing the total disability. The Second Injury Fund takes responsibility for payment of all workers’ compensation benefits associated with the percentage of disability that was preexisting. For example, assume that John Doe is a machinist who previously suffered a heart attack, is diabetic, and also had a shoulder injury eight years ago. John Doe then sustains an injury to his back while employed by ABC Corporation and is unable to ever return to the work (i.e., is totally disabled). Chances are that some portion of the total disability is attributable to the preexisting heart, diabetic and/or shoulder injury, and the Second Injury Fund relieves the employer and/or its workers’ compensation insurer from responsibility for the percentage of total disability caused by the preexisting illness or injury. The Fund is joined to a New Jersey workers’ compensation claim whenever the worker is alleging total disability but possessed a prior illness or injury.
Helping Injured Employees
New Jersey workplace injuries that give rise to these claims can be very complicated and should only be handled by an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer in our view. Every compensation attorney in our New Jersey office has handled many total disability cases and possesses the knowledge necessary to ensure that a total disability claim succeeds. One of the lawyers from our firm would be happy to meet with you to discuss your total disability case and the implications of the Second Injury Fund to your workers’ compensation case. Please do not hesitate to contact our office by calling 866-916-3549. A compensation lawyer is available to immediately assist you.
Do you have a claim against a person other than your employer for an employment-related injury? See Third-Party Claims.
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