A couple weeks ago NJAccident.com published an article urging the New Jersey Supreme Court to overturn a Workers Compensation Judge’s decision and an Appellate Division Three-Judge panel’s decision upholding the denial of temporary disability benefits to Volunteer Firefighter who was injured during a fire call but who was unemployed because she was caring for her ailing father. We are glad to report that the New Jersey Supreme Court reversed the lower court decisions and awarded temporary disability benefits to Volunteer Firefighters Jennifer Kocanowski temporary disability benefits as urged by our article.
Supreme Court Summary
The New Jersey Supreme
Court summarized its decision in the Syllabus of its decision released on
February 19, 2019 as follows:
Jennifer Kocanowski was
a volunteer firefighter for seventeen years and was injured in the course of
her duties. Kocanowski applied for and was denied temporary disability benefits
because she did not have outside employment. In this appeal, the Court
considers whether volunteer firefighters must be employed to be eligible for
temporary disability benefits under the Workers’ Compensation Act, N.J.S.A.
34:15-1 to -146.
Kocanowski served fifteen years at the Finderne Fire Department in the Township of Bridgewater. In addition to her volunteer work, Kocanowski usually had outside paid employment, including working as a nanny and home health care aide. Kocanowski took a six-month leave from volunteer firefighting after her father’s death to care for her ill mother and settle her father’s estate. She returned to volunteer firefighting around July 2014, but did not resume outside employment.
An employee who was killed as a result of an automobile accident after a night out while he was working away from home was held to be in the course of his employment. In the case of Angela Ann Cavalcante versus Lockheed Electronics Company,85 N.J. Super. 320 (1964), the Workers Compensation Court applied a “reasonable” standard in its analysis of the facts to determine that the case was compensable because it was reasonable for an employee working temporarily out of state to seek some relaxation with colleagues after working irregular hours for several days. (more…)
In many states, owner-operator truck drivers are independent contractors and thus not covered by the trucking company they are hauling for. In New Jersey, however, an owner operator is considered an employee of the trucking company they are working for.
New Jersey uses two tests to determine whether a person is an employee of a trucking company or an independent contractor. The first test is the “right to control test”. The second test is the “relative nature of the work test”.
Under the “right to control test”, an analysis is made as to whether the person hiring had the right to direct the manner in which the business or work shall be done as well as the results accomplished in order to determine if the person hiring is an employee.
In New Jersey, injured workers must prove two things before being entitled to Workers Compensation Permanency benefits.
First, the injured worker must provide objective medical evidence of restriction of the body or a part of the body. Secondly, the injured worker must prove either a lessening to a material degree of working ability or substantial impairment of non-work activities.
Temporary Disability Benefits end when the injured worker returns to work or the injured worker reaches medical maximum improvement (commonly referred to as MMI). (more…)
