You can't sue your employer for negligence, but you can sue others
Generally speaking, if you are hurt due to the negligence of your employer or co-worker, you can't sue for negligence. That's one of the trade-offs of Illinois work comp law and in most cases it's well worth it because Illinois offers great work injury benefits to employees.
That said, it's shocking to us how few attorneys do a real analysis as to what other cases might exist. So many take the approach that they only represent you for the work injury. That may be true (and that's all we do), but as an attorney you should still do your best to offer a full analysis of what rights your clients may have.
Perhaps you were illegally fired. Maybe you are owed overtime benefits. Possibly someone who is not part of your company was negligent and can be sued for the extent of your injury.
One of my favorite clients is a nice young man from Indiana that we represented for free because he became paralyzed after a fall from a scaffold. He worked for an Illinois company, but got hurt in Wisconsin so he at first contacted an attorney there. That lawyer got him workers' compensation benefits in Wisconsin, but failed to investigate whether or not he could have gotten more in Illinois and shockingly never did an investigation as to whether or not the scaffold company could have been sued.
By the time he got to us it was too late to sue the scaffold company and all we could do was increase his benefits based on Illinois law. Fortunately he had a legal malpractice lawsuit against his first lawyer, but really it should never have come to that.
We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys. Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.
