NJ Supreme Court Reverses Lower Courts to Help Volunteer Firefighters
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