(NJ) I got injured at work March 25th. Was out for about a month. Doctor said I shouldn't go back to work if it requires a lot I standing and walking around, but I was getting stir crazy staying home all day. At the end of my first week back, I come to get my check for the previous week (Owner's been putting me down as working and paying me because workman's comp hasnt sent me anything). The manager says the owner wasn't going to give me my check because "workman's comp should be paying you". I get a $100 bill instead of my average $325-400 check. So that's hours I'm on the books as working and part of the earnings I have to declare when I do my taxes. Thats the first thing to note. I feel really uncomfortable about that.

I try working for the next two weeks with my foot still healing. My hours are down from 35 to 16. Barely making rent; another detail that doesn't seen right. I see the doctor and it's not getting better. He gives me a prescription to stay off of it for 2 weeks (meaning don't work).

I decided to call the insurance agency to see why I'm not getting paid. My claims manager is out on vacation but the woman I spoke with was able to tell me that my employer did not report any time lost. I call my job immediately after and tell the GM that there's no reported time lost and that I should get the check that he refused to give me (if he told me 'workmans comp should be paying you' and the insurance company said they weren't informed of time lost, then what the f***? Is that not a straight up lie?) She talks to the owner and says 'yeah no he reported you took off. You've been getting checks because the insurance company will reimbursed him'.

So I dont know what the hell is going on. Taking that $100 instead of my $350 paycheck was a huge hit. And then working less than 20 hours for the past two weeks has destoyed me. And it looks like either the owner was bullshitting me about the insurance company reimbursing him because he'd rather pay that money for some reason that cant be good, or he's trying to get reimbursed on a paycheck he didn't even give me.

Another thing to note is that after I had surgery, the owner stopped by the hospital to give me my stuff I left at work. He told me he's had me off the books for over half a year. If anyone called and asked how long I've been working here, he wanted me to tell them about a month. Might be why he didn't report time lost. Either way, I didn't know he was paying me off the books and I don't plan on lying about how long I've been working. Also I'm worried I'll be unfairly compensated if I get compensated at all for these extra two weeks the doctor wants me to take off.

I don't know if I should get a lawyer. I don't know if I should go to the department of labor. I don't know what to tell the insurance company. I don't know if I should just find another job if I think this is so wrong.

My brother is a top level lawyer. Idk if I should bother him about this.

Anyway, any advice would be appreciated. This is really stressing me out. I don't know if doing nothing would mean I'm complicit and letting people walk all over me, or if I'm the bad guy by looking into this.