Accidents can, and do, happen in all kinds of professions and all kinds of workplaces. When employees are injured on the job, they can rely on New Jersey’s workers’ compensation system to proved them with benefits to pay for their medical care and help them with their expenses until they are able to return to work — or, at least, they should be able to rely on it.

The truth is that workers’ compensation doesn’t always work as it should. Sometimes, employers and their insurance companies won’t honor an employee’s claim. Sometimes, they won’t pay as much as the worker needs. Sometimes, insurance companies make injured workers jump through all sorts of hoops before they fork over any benefits, and even then, the injured person has to fight for every check.

Hearings and appeals

When a workers’ compensation dispute arises, it’s a good idea to seek out legal help. An attorney with experience in workers’ compensation can help the injured at many steps in the process, from filing initial paperwork to arguing on their behalf at administrative hearings and court appeals.

New Jersey provides a strong system for resolving disputes, with both informal and formal processes. The informal process involves an administrative hearing before a workers’ compensation judge. Although this type of proceeding has some of the features of a trial, compared to going to court, it’s a much more simplified affair. That said, it’s not easy to argue your case against insurance companies, employers and their lawyers. It’s important for workers to be represented by a lawyer of their own.

When administrative methods fail to resolve the dispute, workers may have to go to a formal court proceeding. Compared to the informal methods, this is a much more complicated, stressful, time-consuming and expensive way to go. However, it is sometimes the best option to secure the best results.