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State: N.J. Gelman: Unpaid Volunteer Firefighter not Entitled to Temporary Benefits: [2017-12-15] |
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The New Jersey Appellate Division held, in an unreported opinion, that an unpaid and unemployed volunteered firefighter was not entitled to temporary workers’ compensation benefits. The court affirmed the compensation judge’s finding that without the receipt of any wages, temporary benefits were not payable. The trial court ruled:
The injured volunteered firefighter was not receiving wages in that capacity at the time of the accident and was not employed at another job. Statutory language requires the payment of a weekly wage and the inability to work as a prerequisite for the payment of temporary workers’ compensation benefits. The appellate court held:
The statutory prerequisite of wages being paid to obtain an award for workers’ compensation benefits must be enforced. The payment of premiums are based on the payroll paid by the employer. The employer in this instance is a public entity, and the Legislature obviously wanted to keep costs contained for communities that needed to rely upon a volunteer workforces for fire safety services. If the state and other public entities desired to establish a more cost-effective benefit system to provide compensation benefits for volunteers serving their communities, it could be done outside the classic Workers’ Compensation Act. This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court." Although it is posted on the internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case, and its use in other cases is limited. Claimants' attorney Jon L. Gelman is the author of "New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Law" and co-author of the national treatise "Modern Workers’ Compensation Law." He is based in Wayne, New Jersey. This blog post is republished with permission. |