request for info/clarification/help

[confusedInNJ]

Greetings,
I currently receive Workmans Comp payment, classified as permanent partial dis disabled since 1996 from injury in NYC. Downsized and found new job in NJ. Work for almost 3 years, then laid off. Now collect unemployment from New Jersey as I lost job in NJ.
Can you collect WC from state where you were injured, and since you were laid off in state (New Jersey) where you found job collect unemployment from NJ? In my head, I was injured on the job in NY... collect WC from NY, and lost job in NY. Found job in NJ... worked in NJ and was laid of in NJ, so collect Unemployment from NJ as thats where I was laid off from.

Please, I need to know if this is acceptable/legal to collect WC for NYC injury and Unemployment for losing job in NJ at same time... to me this is two different things as is from 2 different states. Though I look constantntly for work, economy is bad.... no jobs to be found for me....
thank you, confusedInNJ

 

[TheInsider]

If you think you are confused, imagine having a staff of sixty writers drafting decisions for you on this type of issues and getting six different opinions on the same issue. I lived with that for 12 years at the Board.

Now to your question:

If you were injured in NY, you always have the right to seek workers comp (WC) in NY regardless of where in the U.S.A. you live and work. The issue that would be raised now is, "Since you did work for a while (that it is NJ is not relevant), is the reason you are not working now related to your injury or to the economy?" If due to your injury, you can get possibly get comp with some offset for the unemployment insurance payments you are getting. If it is due to the economy, you would not qualify for comp. Sometimes, a question is raised as to what you put in your forms for unemployment. If you stated that you are ready and willing to take any job that answer would be used to argue that you do not have a disability. If you did indicate that you were looking for work but have some physical limitation, that statement would go towards showing you have a continuing disability that effects your ability to earn what you did prior to your original accident.

You would need an attorney or licensed representative in NY who is familiar with these issues. Each state's WC board has different laws and interpretation of them on the same issue. So if you go to a NJ attorney and ask about this NY issue, he most likely will not know the answer.

 

[confusedInNJ]

thank you insider...
I was told by WCB that I could not get job in same filed I was in, and could earn no more than X dollars. So, my options wer limited. I am permanaent partial disabled, and don't see what I cannot collect UE if I did lose my job in NJ. WCB has limited me (they said I could work-so my theory os if I can WORK, I should be able to collect UE if I lost my job--for any reason. Could I be in any sort of trouble...?

 

[TheInsider]

I a normally not this blunt BUT.. Whoever told you this is an idiot. Or they used shorthand, thus not giving you a complete answer.

You can work in whatever field you want and earn as much money as you can. But once you have the job you must inform your insurance company, and send a copy of that letter to the WCB and your attorney so that the carrier can never claim they never got the letter and try and get you for fraud for working and not telling them.

The carrier then must make a decision if they want to challenge your current rates.

I know of one claimant who had a total permanent disability (paraplegic), and not only graduated Cum Laude from law school but works for a major law firm in Washington DC. And you can be sure he earns more than the maximum WC award he originally got but can not longer collect.

The Carrier and Board will look at your new weekly wage. If it is more than what you had pre-accident, you will no longer qualify for comp as long as you keep that job. If you make less on your new job than before the accident, they will pay a portion of the difference as long as you keep that job. And if you loose your job in the future, you can come back and seek comp at the higher rate again.

The purpose of the comp system is to give you money while you are injured until you are able to rejoin the workforce again but in the meanwhile to supplement any income losses you have that have been caused by a lower income due to the injury.

And you would be far better off trading your comp benefits for a real salary. It is not dollar for dollar exchange: it is more like $1 of comp for each $.66 of salary.

And you would still qualify for medical if you needed it.

What the WC B should have told you is that if you go back to work in the same field, and make less money, you would have to prove it is your injury that has resulted in your making less, not a change in the economic state of that industry. If you are still concerned, once you have a job lined up, check with your attorney.