Filing a Workers’ Compensation Claim Without Fear of Retaliation in NJ

Did you suddenly get fired after filing a workers’ compensation claim? When you are injured on the job, you face many concerns. You may worry about your recovery, your family’s financial health, and your pain management. However, you should not have to worry about losing your job. Employers pay for workers’ compensation insurance to cover employees who become ill or injured because of their work. Workers’ compensation laws require that workers’ compensation insurers pay for an employee’s medical bills and wages while they recover. More importantly, employees have the right to file workers’ compensation claims without fearing for their jobs in New Jersey. You may feel relieved to learn how New Jersey workers’ compensation laws protect workers from retaliation when they file claims.

Understanding How NJ Safeguards Injured Workers from Retaliation

In New Jersey, an employer cannot fire an employee for filing a workers’ compensation claim. According to workers’ compensation laws, it is illegal and considered a form of retaliation. New Jersey’s Workers’ Compensation Act prohibits an employer from firing or discriminating in any way against an employee for filing or attempting to file a workers’ compensation claim.

Retaliation and discrimination are not limited to firing an employee, either. However, when an employer terminates an employee after they file a workers’ compensation claim, it is most likely a retaliatory act. Similarly, demoting an employee, assigning them to perform lowly or demeaning tasks, transferring them to distant locations, suspending them, reducing their hours, denying them a promotion, and lowering their pay after the employee reports a workers’ compensation injury or illness are further signs of retaliation.

Any discriminatory behavior, like writing the employee a negative performance review despite the employee’s competent job performance and high achievements, may be considered retaliatory employer behavior. Unnecessarily picking on an employee for their job performance when others do the same without criticism may also be interpreted as discriminatory harassment.

Legal Recourse if You Were Fired for Seeking Workers’ Compensation in NJ

Your recourse for workers’ compensation claim retaliation is to file a claim with the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development in hopes of enlisting their help in redressing the employer’s wrongful and illegal behavior. You can also file a retaliation and wrongful termination complaint in the civil court for damages, including lost wages, back pay, and emotional distress. If successful, your employer may be forced to reinstate you and pay your damages, which may include punitive damages to ensure the employer learns their lesson and is an example to deter others from retaliatory behavior.

Effective Documentation is Key to Prove Workers’ Comp Retaliation in New Jersey

You may have recourse against an employer that wrongfully fires or discriminates against you in retaliation for claiming workers’ compensation benefits. However, proving retaliation is not easy. An employer will not admit to retaliation, so you must establish a causal connection between the employer’s actions and filing a claim. Nevertheless, you can build a strong case for retaliation by carefully documenting all written and oral communications between you and your employer regarding your workplace injury, claim, and job performance or duties. So, official and unofficial written communication and notes you take after oral interactions with your employer can bolster the causal connection of your employer’s negative actions after your claim filing date.

You want to thoroughly track your employer’s actions toward you, your job duties, or your treatment after you file a workers’ compensation claim. So, when your job duties change to menial, demeaning tasks, even though you can do more by your doctor’s assessment and recommendation, you should document your daily job duties and how your employer communicated that change, their tone, attitude, and justification for the job change. Write as much down as you can. If you have witnessed your supervisor’s changed demeanor toward you or your changed duties, you want to ask them for a statement or at least discuss their observations of the changes and treatment with them. No one conversation or action will establish a causal link between the changes to your job or treatment and the filing of a claim, but the cumulative effect of documentation may be circumstantial evidence of the connection.

Protecting Your Case When You Suspect Employer Retaliation

1.  Document everything. If you are the victim of employer retaliation, be sure you preserve your retaliation or wrongful termination claim by detailed notes and documentation. No detail is too small to demonstrate the cumulative acts of discrimination and unfair treatment.

2. Consult with an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer immediately. Get advice from an experienced workers’ compensation attorney at Chamlin, Uliano & Walsh. You will receive information about available remedies, what qualifies as retaliation, and what you should do to prepare your claim. With decades of experience, our NJ workers’ compensation lawyers are prepared to guide you through the workers’ compensation and retaliation claim process so you recover all that you are entitled to in medical treatment and wages and have a viable complaint and lawsuit to redress your employer’s wrongs.

3. Do not engage in any behavior that could jeopardize your claim. Don’t give the employer a legitimate reason for termination. It is crucial not to jeopardize your case with behaviors and actions that could weaken your case. Even when your employer is rude, demeaning, and wrong, you don’t want to respond in kind, giving your employer a reason for terminating or otherwise punishing you on the job.

Stand Up for Your Rights with Strong Legal Support from a New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Attorney at Chamlin, Uliano & Walsh

Retaliation against an employee who files a workers’ compensation claim is a serious infraction in New Jersey, so you will need all the legal help you can get when showing your employer’s misconduct. At Chamlin, Uliano & Walsh, our talented workers’ compensation lawyers will investigate your claim, making demands or issuing subpoenas to obtain human resources and other records, reports, and other documents as evidence of your prior performance, your employer’s actions, and your compliance with reporting your injury or illness. Resolving the retaliatory claim without litigation is optimal, so we will attempt to negotiate a resolution before filing a lawsuit. Informing the employer of your intention to seek further remedies through the labor department for retaliatory termination after filing a workers’ comp claim and to seek damages in litigation, as well as citing the violated laws, may make the employer open to resolving the dispute by reinstating your employment and paying a portion of your damages in losing your job and wages.

If they are unwilling to reach an agreement, our attorneys will work diligently to ensure that your case proceeds through the legal system efficiently and correctly. No matter what you are up against, our team is readily equipped to prepare, present, negotiate, or litigate your case for a successful settlement or trial outcome. We help clients with workers’ compensation claims and retaliation for filing these claims in Holmdel, Manasquan, Red Bank, Neptune, Middletown, Long Branch, Belmar, Eatontown, and across Monmouth County and Ocean County, New Jersey. Contact us today at 732-440-3950  to seek advice from an erudite workers’ compensation attorney if you suspect that your employer retaliated against you for filing a workers’ compensation claim.