If a workplace injury leaves you unable to return to your previous job, vocational rehabilitation may help you prepare for a different type of employment. In New Jersey, however, vocational rehabilitation is generally not provided as a standard workers' compensation benefit. Instead, injured workers who have disabilities that interfere with their ability to find or maintain employment may qualify for services through the New Jersey Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services (DVRS).
The distinction is important. New Jersey workers' compensation benefits may provide medical treatment and disability benefits after a compensable workplace injury, while DVRS can provide eligible individuals with services designed to help them return to the workforce. Depending on the severity of your injuries and work restrictions, both systems may become important as you plan for your future.
Key Takeaways: Vocational Rehabilitation After a New Jersey Work Injury
- Vocational rehabilitation is generally not one of the standard benefits provided through a New Jersey workers' compensation claim.
- Injured workers whose disabilities substantially interfere with employment may qualify for assistance through the New Jersey Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services (DVRS).
- DVRS services can include vocational counseling, job-search assistance, job placement, training, and other support based on the individual's needs.
- Medical restrictions may affect whether an injured employee can return to a previous job and what alternative work may be appropriate.
- Vocational and employability issues can also become relevant in certain workers' compensation cases involving severe permanent disability.
Can You Get Vocational Rehabilitation After a New Jersey Work Injury?
Yes. An employee who develops lasting limitations after a workplace injury may be able to obtain vocational rehabilitation services. However, it is important to understand where those services come from.
New Jersey workers' compensation generally provides benefits such as authorized medical treatment, temporary disability benefits, permanent disability benefits, and death benefits. Vocational rehabilitation and job retraining are not ordinarily administered by the employer's workers' compensation insurance carrier as a standard claim benefit.
Instead, New Jersey directs individuals whose disabilities are preventing them from working or making it difficult to maintain employment to the state's Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services.
This means an injured worker may potentially have a workers' compensation claim while separately receiving assistance from DVRS. The two systems serve different purposes but can become relevant at the same time when a workplace injury has lasting effects on someone's ability to earn a living.
What Is the New Jersey Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services?
The New Jersey Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services helps eligible individuals with disabilities prepare for, obtain, maintain, or advance in employment.
A person does not necessarily have to become disabled through a workplace accident to qualify for DVRS. The program serves individuals whose physical, mental, cognitive, or other disabilities create a substantial barrier to employment.
For someone injured at work, DVRS may become particularly important when medical treatment does not restore the ability to perform the previous occupation. For example, an employee who spent years working in construction, manufacturing, warehousing, or another physically demanding field may need assistance identifying a new career path if permanent restrictions prevent a return to that type of work.
DVRS counselors evaluate an individual's abilities, limitations, employment goals, skills, and other circumstances to determine what services may be appropriate.
Who May Qualify for Vocational Rehabilitation After a Work Injury?
Eligibility for DVRS is based on the effect a disability has on employment rather than simply on whether the condition resulted from a workplace injury.
An individual with a disability that creates a substantial impediment to employment may qualify for services. Eligibility and the type of assistance needed are evaluated individually.
For an injured worker, relevant circumstances may include:
- Permanent or long-term physical limitations
- Difficulty performing the essential duties of a previous occupation
- Education, training, certifications, and work experience
- Existing skills that may transfer to another occupation
- The need for additional education or job training
- The types of employment that can safely be performed within medical restrictions
For example, a warehouse employee with permanent limitations on lifting, climbing, or prolonged standing may no longer be capable of performing the previous job. Vocational rehabilitation could potentially help that worker identify occupations that are physically appropriate and determine whether additional training would improve employment opportunities.
The existence of permanent restrictions may also be relevant to permanent disability benefits under New Jersey workers' compensation. However, eligibility for DVRS services and entitlement to workers' compensation benefits are separate determinations.
What Vocational Rehabilitation Services Are Available in New Jersey?
Vocational rehabilitation is individualized. Someone who already has transferable office or technical skills may require relatively limited assistance, while another worker may need more extensive training before entering a different occupation.
Depending on eligibility and individual circumstances, DVRS services may include:
- Vocational counseling and guidance
- Help identifying appropriate career goals
- Job-search assistance
- Résumé development and interview preparation
- Job-placement assistance
- On-the-job training
- Vocational or technical training
- Education and training necessary to pursue an employment goal
- Job coaching or other employment support
- Certain assistive technology or rehabilitative services when appropriate
After an individual is found eligible, the worker and a DVRS counselor can develop an Individualized Plan for Employment, commonly called an IPE. The plan identifies the person's vocational goal and the services needed to work toward it.
Not every service is automatically provided at no cost. New Jersey provides some DVRS services without charge, while certain services involving costs may be subject to a financial needs determination or the availability of comparable benefits from another source.
How Do Medical Work Restrictions Affect Vocational Rehabilitation?
Medical restrictions can play a major role in determining what type of employment is realistic after a workplace injury.
An employee may be capable of working while still being unable to return to the same occupation. Restrictions involving lifting, standing, walking, bending, repetitive movement, climbing, or other physical activities can eliminate jobs that once made up most of the worker's employment history.
For example, a construction worker who can no longer perform heavy lifting may need to explore work that uses industry knowledge without requiring the same physical demands. A delivery driver who develops permanent mobility limitations might similarly need to consider occupations that involve less driving, lifting, or entering and exiting a vehicle.
Workers should follow restrictions issued by their authorized medical providers. New Jersey generally allows the employer or its insurance carrier to designate the authorized treating physician for a workers' compensation injury. Medical opinions may also become important when there is disagreement about whether an employee can return to work or has sustained permanent disability.
Independent Medical Examinations in New Jersey workers' compensation cases may also be used to evaluate an injured worker's medical condition and the extent of permanent impairment.
Can You Receive Workers' Compensation While Participating in Vocational Rehabilitation?
Potentially. Receiving vocational rehabilitation services through DVRS does not automatically end a workers' compensation claim.
However, whether an injured employee remains entitled to a particular workers' compensation benefit depends on the worker's medical condition, work status, and the type of benefit involved.
For example, temporary total disability benefits generally compensate an eligible worker during a period in which the employee cannot work because of a compensable injury. Those benefits do not necessarily continue indefinitely simply because the worker is retraining for another occupation.
Permanent disability benefits involve different considerations. A workplace injury that results in lasting functional impairment may support permanent disability benefits even when the employee eventually returns to some form of employment.
Workers considering a new job, modified employment, or significant changes to their work status should understand how those decisions could affect the benefits they are currently receiving. The rules governing whether someone can work while receiving workers' compensation in New Jersey can vary depending on the circumstances.
Does Vocational Evidence Matter in a New Jersey Workers' Compensation Case?
Vocational evidence is not necessary in every New Jersey workers' compensation claim. Most cases focus primarily on medical treatment, temporary disability, and the extent of any permanent impairment.
Employability can become much more important, however, when an injury is so severe that the worker claims to be permanently and totally disabled.
New Jersey permanent total disability benefits may be available when the effects of a compensable injury prevent a worker from returning to gainful employment. In certain cases, the analysis can involve more than medical diagnoses alone. A worker's limitations, employment history, education, training, skills, and realistic ability to obtain employment may become relevant.
Vocational experts may sometimes evaluate whether an injured person can realistically obtain and maintain employment given the worker's medical restrictions and vocational background.
This is different from saying that a workers' compensation settlement routinely includes damages for all future lost earnings. New Jersey workers' compensation provides statutory disability benefits rather than the same types of damages that may be available in a traditional personal injury lawsuit.
For that reason, vocational evidence tends to have greater significance in particular cases involving serious questions about employability and permanent total disability than in routine workers' compensation claims.
How Does Vocational Rehabilitation Relate to Permanent Total Disability?
New Jersey law contains a specialized rehabilitation provision involving permanent total disability benefits.
Permanent total disability benefits are initially payable for 450 weeks. Continued entitlement after that period may depend on whether the worker remains totally disabled and satisfies the requirements established under New Jersey workers' compensation law. The statute also addresses physical or educational rehabilitation in connection with continued permanent total disability benefits.
This is a much narrower issue than ordinary DVRS eligibility. It does not mean that every injured employee receiving workers' compensation is entitled to carrier-funded vocational retraining.
Workers facing permanent restrictions severe enough to prevent meaningful employment should speak with an experienced workers' compensation attorney about how their medical condition, employability, and rehabilitation efforts may affect a claim for permanent total disability.
What Happens if DVRS Denies or Limits Vocational Rehabilitation Services?
Because DVRS is separate from the workers' compensation system, disagreements about vocational rehabilitation services are not ordinarily handled as disputes with the workers' compensation insurance carrier.
New Jersey's Client Assistance Program, or CAP, helps individuals with disabilities understand their rights when seeking or receiving vocational rehabilitation services. CAP may assist with questions about available services, disagreements involving a rehabilitation program, and appeals when someone has been denied eligibility or is dissatisfied with the services being provided.
A workers' compensation dispute follows a different process. For example, disagreements involving whether an injury is compensable, whether treatment should be authorized, whether temporary disability benefits should be paid, or the extent of permanent disability may be addressed through the New Jersey Division of Workers' Compensation.
Understanding which system is responsible for a particular issue can help an injured worker determine where to seek assistance.
What Should You Do if You Cannot Return to Your Previous Job?
Finding out that you cannot return to a longtime occupation can be overwhelming, particularly when you are also dealing with medical treatment and a workers' compensation claim.
Several steps can help protect your interests:
- Continue attending authorized medical appointments.
- Follow your physician's work restrictions.
- Keep copies of medical restrictions and return-to-work documentation.
- Communicate accurately about what physical activities you can and cannot perform.
- Learn whether DVRS services may help you pursue suitable employment.
- Keep records of rehabilitation, training, and job-search efforts.
- Speak with a workers' compensation attorney before making decisions that could affect disability benefits or a settlement.
Workers should also avoid returning to duties that exceed documented medical restrictions simply because they feel pressured to resume their former position. A proposed job should be evaluated based on the work it actually requires, not merely its job title.
A pre-existing condition does not automatically prevent a New Jersey workers' compensation claim, although disagreements may arise over the extent to which a workplace injury caused or aggravated the worker's current disability.
When Should You Speak With a New Jersey Workers' Compensation Lawyer?
A workers' compensation attorney does not replace a DVRS counselor, but legal guidance can become particularly important when questions about returning to work overlap with a workers' compensation claim.
Consider speaking with an attorney if:
- Your employer or insurance carrier claims you can return to work despite ongoing medical limitations.
- Your authorized treatment has been denied or terminated.
- You disagree with an evaluation of your permanent disability.
- You are concerned that returning to work could affect temporary or permanent disability benefits.
- Your injuries may prevent you from returning to any gainful employment.
- You are considering a New Jersey workers' compensation settlement while still facing significant permanent work restrictions.
An attorney can help distinguish issues involving your workers' compensation benefits from vocational rehabilitation services available through other state programs and protect your rights within the workers' compensation system.
Need Legal Help? Brandon J. Broderick, Attorney at Law Is One Phone Call Away
A workplace injury that prevents you from returning to your previous career can affect far more than your immediate paycheck. You may need ongoing medical care, workers' compensation disability benefits, and assistance identifying employment that you can safely perform. Understanding the difference between New Jersey workers' compensation and vocational rehabilitation through DVRS can help you make informed decisions about both your claim and your future.
Brandon J. Broderick, Attorney at Law represents injured workers throughout New Jersey. If you are facing permanent work restrictions, a disputed return to work, questions about disability benefits, or other complications after a workplace injury, our experienced workers' compensation attorneys can help you understand your options and protect your rights.