Why sometimes a settlement is not offered
If you have an Illinois workers' compensation claim, the insurance company has to pay for all of your reasonable and related medical bills and all of your time off work so long as there is no doctor that is saying you don't need treatment or that you can work. You get these benefits as long as your condition lasts.
Under our laws, you may also be entitled to a settlement. 99% of injured workers usually get something, the total amount depends on how bad you were injured and how it will effect you in the future. But the insurance company does not have to make you an offer and there is a reason why they do not.
When you settle a case for an injury to your arm, leg, foot, hand, fingers, eye or toes, an insurance company gets a credit for any future (or past) settlements related to that same body part. For example, you break your leg and it's decided you have suffered a 20% loss of use of your leg. If a year from now you tear your ACL on the job in the same leg, the insurance company would get a 20% credit. So if your case was worth 30% loss of the leg, they would only pay you 10%.
However, there are no credits for injuries that are considered man as a whole - back, neck, chest, head, etc. So insurance companies often won't settle those cases voluntarily because if they give you 10% of the man as a settlement today, if you re-injure yourself in a week they get no credit and basically might have to pay you the same settlement twice.
So while you can always get a settlement or an award (by going to trial) with a lawyer, they don't have to give you one. And if they don't it is probably because they have something in their interests, not yours, that is motivating them. If you wait for them to do the right thing, you might find that the time to bring your case has come and gone.
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.
