Temporary Disability Benefits

N.J.S.A. 34:15-12 (a) provides that for injuries producing temporary disability, 70% of the workers’ weekly wage received at the time of the injury, subject to a maximum compensation of 75% of the average weekly wages… and the minimum of 20% of such average weekly wages…shall be provided to the Petitioner. This compensation shall be paid up to a period of 400 weeks from the date of the disability. “Temporary Disability” under the Workers’ Compensation Act is a condition that exists until the injured worker is as far restored as the permanent character of the injuries will permit. Reynolds vs. Passaic Valley Sewage Commissioners 33 A. 2d 595 (1943). The benefit will be paid until the employee is able to resume work and continue permanently thereafter or until he is as far restored as the permanent character of the injury will permit—the determinate date being whichever of these events happens first. Therefore, temporary disability benefits should be paid until the “authorized” physician either explicitly or implicitly chosen by the employer or the employer’s insurance carrier, releases the Petitioner to return to employment or finds that the “Petitioner has plateaued” and has reached an endpoint in his recovery.