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Available Defenses In New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Claims

In New Jersey, when an employer is faced with a claim for workers’ compensation benefits they may raise a number of defenses in order to avoid liability. These defenses include, but are not limited to, the defense of Employee Status, Statute of Limitations, Notice and Knowledge, Intervening Cause and Intoxication. Although the defenses are not limited to these five, this article will only explore these five in the hope of providing employers with a brief understanding of their potential defenses against workers’ compensation claims.

Employee Status

Probably the most commonly used defense, is the defense of Employee Status. This defense essentially prevents anyone who is a non-employee from bringing a workers compensation claim against an employer. An employee under the Workers Compensation Act is defined as someone who performs a service for an employer for financial consideration. N.J.S.A. 34:15-36. This definition, as you can see, is extremely vague and is not so easily distinguishable. People who fall into the category of a “casual employee” or an “independent contractor” are not employees for the purposes of this act. Please note, that although this defense prevents a person who is not an employee from bringing a claim under the Workers Compensation Act for injuries sustained at work, this defense does not prevent the person from bringing a tort lawsuit.

Statute of Limitations

Statute of Limitations, is a defense that is found in almost every area of law. This defense simply states that a claimant must bring their claim within two years of an accident or the last payment of compensation. If the claim is not brought within the two years as described above, the claim will be lost.

Notice and Knowledge

The defense of Notice and Knowledge, is a defense that prevents claimants from bringing claims when they fail to notify the employer within a certain time period. By rule, a claimant must provide notice within 90 days of the accident under N.J.S.A. 34:15-17. Constructive notice of the accident is sufficient in the sense that a claimant does not need to provide formal notice. As long as the employer becomes aware of the accident within 90 days, notice is given. The defense of notice is only applicable in traumatic injury claims and is not applicable to occupational injury claims.

Intervening Cause/Disobedience

The defense known as intervening cause or “disobedience” is a rarely-used defense which focuses on the employee’s behavior in the workplace. In such cases, the employer will need to prove that the employee’s claim for injury is based upon a self-inflicted injury. Note that the Act itself bars compensation for suicide and self-inflicted injuries at N.J.S.A. 34:15-7.

Intoxication

Finally, the defense of intoxication is a defense that bars an employee from receiving workers compensation benefits when intoxication is proved to be the sole cause of the employee’s injury. The courts generally interpret this defense to be non-applicable in most cases since it only applies when the sole cause of the injury was intoxication,which is very difficult to prove. Therefore, this defense is seldom used.

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THE MOST PRACTICAL, up-to-date, and easy-to-understand guide to workers' compensation claims in New Jersey. This book is designed for employers, attorneys, claim adjusters, physicians, self-insured employers, and vocational rehabilitation workers. This guide is written in plain English by a New Jersey State attorney and provides a detailed analysis of relevant statutes and regulations; a complete recap of recent court decisions including 2021 & 2022 cases; and a full description of current practice.

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Learn More About New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Defense at LOIS

For more than 20 years we have represented insurance carriers, self-insured employers, third party claim administrators, and employers before New Jersey’s Division of Workers’ Compensation. Our founding partner, Gregory Lois, is co-author of the LexisNexis “Practice Guide to Workers’ Compensation in New Jersey” (2017, ISBN:9781632838735) and served as Law Clerk to Hon. Joan Mott, Administrative Supervisor of Workers Compensation.

Along with partners Karen Vincent and Joe Jones (New Jersey Practice Group Team Leader) and a dedicated team of experienced attorneys and paraprofessionals, we handle New Jersey cases from cradle-to-grave. We want to be by your side, moving cases aggressively to closure from the start of litigation all the way through to settlement.

We only assign one attorney and one paralegal to each case. The attorney/paralegal assignments are made based on the court the case will be listed in.

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