If you have been injured at work in New Jersey, you are entitled to receive certain specific workers’ compensation benefits, namely:
- Medical treatment
- Temporary Disability Benefits
- Permanent Partial Benefits
- Permanent Total Benefits
- Death Benefits
But, none of these preclude you from applying for Social Security Disability benefits as well.
Workers’ compensation will typically pay you 70% of your pre-injury earnings, meaning the amount you were making before you were injured. If you apply for and receive Social Security disability benefits, those benefits will be paid to you on top of your workers’ compensation benefits, to bring you up to an income level of 80% of what you were earning before you were injured.
In this way, your Social Security benefits can be viewed as an additional stream of income on top of your workers’ compensation benefits. In some circumstance, this addition Social Security income may be a moderate amount of money. But, in other circumstance, it could amount an additional income of 1 or 2 thousand dollars per month.
Furthermore, if you are receiving Social Security disability benefits, you will eventually be entitled to receive health care benefits in the form of Medicare. Medicare will be paid under your Social Security disability benefits, possibly for the rest of your life.
How Workers’ Compensation and Social security Disability Interact
If you are planning to apply for Social Security disability benefits to go alongside the workers’ compensation benefits you are receiving, you should know that your workers’ compensation benefits will affect the amount of Social Security disability benefits you are entitled to receive.
If you’re receiving temporary disability benefits from the workers’ compensation system, the amount of Social Security disability you are entitled to receive will be reduced in accordance with the amount of temporary disability benefits you are receiving. Also, if you receive a reward under the workers’ compensation system for a percentage of permanent disability based on an injury you sustained at work, your Social Security benefits may be reduced.
If you are so badly injured in a work-related accident in New Jersey, you may receive permanent total benefits from the workers’ compensation system for the rest of your life. In this situation, the permanent disability benefits you receive from workers’ compensation will be reduced, while your Social Security benefit will go unaffected.
In either of the above cases, the amount of workers’ compensation AND Social Security disability benefits you are receiving cannot amount to more than the 80% of your pre-injury earnings.
Contact an Experienced New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Attorney
If you have any further questions with respect to workers’ compensation and Social Security disability benefits, call a reputable workers’ compensation attorney for free consultation and to learn what benefits you are entitled to receive.