Legal landscape note: This article was originally published in 2015 and describes the law as it stood at that time. New Jersey law changes frequently.
Working With Your Hands: New Jersey’s Worker’s Compensation Awards For Lost Body Parts
By Michael Gorny, Esq.
You lost the use of a hand, a thumb, or a finger in a workplace accident, and now you need to know what that injury is worth. The uncomfortable answer: it depends heavily on which state you were injured in. Every state runs its own workers' compensation system, and the structures differ enough that workers with identical injuries can walk away with very different awards. A recent study compared New Jersey's Worker's Compensation awards to other states, and the results reflect very different values for body parts.
For example, the study reported that an average worker who lost full function of a hand in New Jersey would receive approximately $163,000, compared with a national average of $144,000. For full loss of a thumb, it reported approximately $22,000 in New Jersey compared with a national average of $42,000.*
- Data from, “How Much Is Your Arm Worth? Depends On Where You Work” by Michael Grabell, ProPublica, and Howard Berkes, NPR, March 5, 2015,
The benefits and disability payments guide explains how medical treatment, temporary disability, and permanency awards serve different purposes.