The Illinois Appellate Court recently ruled in favor of a Circuit City employee who hurt his shoulder in an incident with a vending machine. The worker in this case was helping a co-worker who put money in the machine and had a bag of chips stuck in the machine. To help the co-worker out he jarred the machine injuring his shoulder.
Now nothing about his job had to do with jarring the vending machine that was made available to both employees and the public. But the court held that it is reasonably foreseeable that a worker would help a co-worker in this type of situation. As a result Circuit City is on the hook for all of his lost time, medical bills and the permanent nature of his disability. If he isn’t released to full duty work, the insurance company with have to offer vocational rehabilitation because as you likely know, Circuit City is out of business.
Our take is that the Courts in Illinois aren’t going to punish workers that get hurt while trying to help out. In fact the Appellate Court even cited the Good Samaritan Law as why this worker should get benefits.
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.