Severance agreements and workers' compensation rights
Severance agreements sometimes state that by signing the agreement the worker is giving up all rights to pursue a workers’ compensation claim. Giving up these rights would be a serious detriment to the employee. The law recognizes this and says that you can’t simply sign away your workers’ compensation rights in a severance agreement.
The only way these rights can be signed away in a severance agreement is if it’s approved by an arbitrator at the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission. This isn’t usually the case, so if you’ve signed a severance agreement and are worried that you lost the ability to claim workers’ compensation, talk to an attorney. You can probably still file a claim.
As a general rule of thumb, it’s a good idea to have any agreement reviewed by an attorney before signing. So even though the clause we’re talking about here isn’t enforceable (meaning even if you sign it they can’t hold you to it), it’s better to be safe than sorry, in our opinion.
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.
