Workers Compensation Lawyer in Chicago, Illinois Work Injury Attorney

The workers’ compensation system does just what its name says—it compensates you for your work injuries.  But how do you get a big result from your workers’ compensation case?  Unfortunately, usually if you’re getting a very big payout, it’s because you’ve suffered a very serious and life-altering injury; often involving neck or back surgery.

The system is meant to give employees a quick and efficient means to recover losses for injuries in the course of employment.  It does not provide for the large monetary result of other lawsuits that you may read about in the paper (no million dollar cases in work comp).  But for those who have been injured at work in the most serious way, there is hope that they can receive a larger compensation for the pain and life-change they have had to suffer.

We just settled a case for a great guy who, unfortunately, found himself in this life chancing situation.  He has had two back surgeries including a fusion.  We were able to settle his case for $450,000.   He was one of the “lucky” ones, because he will be able to fulfill a life-long dream of starting his own business and his daily pain isn’t as bad as many clients we have helped.  In fact, he was so anxious, that he almost settled too quickly for $350,000.  We advised him to be patient, and it paid off for him. 

Most aren’t that lucky, and suffer both the injury and the financial loss.  We work hard to be a big help to many to get the result they hope for.  But most of us wouldn’t trade places with those that get a lot of money for their injury, but have to live with the affects of it for the rest of their lives. 

As a client, our number one piece of advice is to never rush a settlement.  Make sure that your lawyer lays out the options for you.  If the offer is in the six figures, that likely means there is an argument to be made for going to trial and keeping your medical rights open.  Have your attorney show you all the options as well as the range of possible results. 

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.

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Mixing alcohol and employment can be a recipe for disaster for many reasons.  Where there is an injury at work, and alcohol was involved, it could stand in your way of collecting workers’ compensation benefits.

In order to collect workers’ compensation benefits for an injury at work, you need to be able to show that the injury arose out of and in the course of your employment.  So what happens when alcohol is added to this equation?  It depends on the specific circumstances.

If you are so intoxicated, that you are injured solely because of the effects of the alcohol, it is an easier case for denying benefits.  Where it can be proven that alcohol was the sole cause of the accident, then it did not arise out of your employment, and workers’ compensation won’t apply. 

However where intoxication contributes to the injury, but is not completely responsible, then you have to look at the facts and see if it was significant enough to render you unable to properly perform your job.  If you are unable to carry out your job responsibilities, then the accident did not arise out of your employment, and workers’ compensation benefits will likely be denied.

This issue comes up frequently in a variety of situations.  We’re often asked whether drinking at the workplace means you can’t collect workers’ compensation benefits if there was an accident.  The answer, perhaps surprisingly, does not depend on how high the blood alcohol level was.  There have been cases where even with a high level, the evidence showed the employee was still able to perform his work.  It comes down to an analysis of the facts, and what affect the alcohol had on the job, to keep it within employment or take it out.

In a recent case, a man who was a cook in a tavern, stayed after work and was drinking alcohol at the tavern.  He attempted to walk down a flight of stairs which were reserved for employees, and fell to his death.  The evidence showed that his alcohol consumption was a significant contributing factor in his death, though not the sole factor.  But he was denied benefits by the Illinois Worker’s Compensation Commission because it was determined that his intoxication made him unable to safely perform his job duties, which included being able to walk down the stairs on which he fell.  Since he was not able to perform his job duties, the accident did not arise from the employment, so benefits were properly denied.  

This case shows that, though alcohol consumption doesn’t always mean workers’ compensation benefits won’t be available, it can be a bar depending on the details.

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Many jobs require employees to bend down and straighten up frequently in order to carry out work duties.  While this may seem like an ordinary body movement that should not cause injury, we hear frequently from workers who are injured on the job from repetitive movements in the performance of their jobs, and want to know if they can recover workers’ compensation benefits.

What distinguishes the seemingly ordinary actions of bending down and straightening up from those that would create a compensable Illinois workers’ compensation injury?  The specific facts surrounding the movements are important.  Looking at the type and frequency of the bending, you have to see whether the general public would be likely to engage in similar conduct.

In one recent case, a hardwood floor installer suffered a lower back injury requiring surgery.  In the course of performing his duties he had to bend over to use a machine to staple the hardwood.  His job required him to bend and staple hundreds of times a day, over a 17 year period of time.  The repetition of this movement caused his back to spasm and one day he was unable to straighten up because of the pain in his lower back. 

The type of movement he was doing was determined to be compensable under Illinois workers’ compensation.  It was required for his job, and was very different than the way the general public would need to move, and the frequency with which an average person would have to bend and straighten. 

When a repetitive movement arises out of employment like the hardwood floor installation, then the fact that an injury develops over time and not immediately will not prevent it from being compensable as an accident under Illinois workers’ compensation.  By their very nature, these injuries may take considerable time to develop to the point of injury.  And in Illinois, it is generally the case that you don’t have to wait until part of your body gives out and you are unable to work at all, before you can recover for the repetitive injury.  The workers’ compensation act allows for compensation where the injury is caused by repeated movement while performing your job, without requiring complete incapacitation.

As long as each separate movement that you perform is necessary to carry out your job, and the large-scale repetition of the movement is what leads to the injured body part, it is likely that the injury will lead to benefits.   You still, though, have to show that the injury came from this work-related movement, and not the usual degeneration of the body part involved.

There is one more potentially tricky aspect of claims for repetitive work trauma.  The date of injury can be more difficult to determine, and if it is held later that you were using the wrong date, you could lose your right to bring the claim because of statue of limitation and notice requirements.  Experienced Illinois workers’ compensation attorneys should be able to help you determine the proper date of injury, to help prevent your claim from being barred.

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.

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The other day, there was an article in the Chicago Tribune about Dr. Joseph Giacchino who is a pain management doctor who is accused of dispensing an unreasonably high amount of pain pills to his patients.

Now I don't know this doctor or if he is guilty or not of anything he's been accused of.  But I do know that he has treated many Illinois injured workers and if your case depended on his medical opinion it would not be a good thing for you.

My firm belief is that even for patients that received proper care from this physician, the Arbitrators at the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission will not look at him as a credible doctor.

This happens a few times a year and often is beyond the control of the patient.  After all, you go to a doctor for help.  That said, if you suspect that your doctor is over-medicating you or you simply have concerns about your recovery, don't shy away from getting a 2nd opinion. 

In the very least you should ask your attorney what they know/think about the doctor and do research as to what most patients with similar injuries receive for pain therapy.

This doctor is accused of giving too much of highly narcotic and addictive drugs like Oxycontin.  If true he probably ruined some lives.  Even if not true, his poor reputation will probably ruin some work injury cases.

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Increasingly in our internet age more workers are working at home, either as their sole workplace or along with spending time in an office. How does this work environment impact their ability to be covered under Illinois workers’ compensation? As long as they are an employee and not an independent contractor, workers’ compensation benefits should still be available to at-home workers.

If you are performing your job from home, yet you are still under the control and direction of your employer, then you are likely an employee and not an independent contractor. Therefore Illinois workers’ compensation benefits would be allowed, if what you were doing when you became ill or injured arose out your employment.

Illinois courts have looked at cases where the injuries claimed under workers’ compensation occurred in places other than the employer’s premises. Benefits were often still available, if the accident or injury occurred during the course and because of employment, even though it was not on the employer’s property. Did the injury occur while he or she was in the performance of job duties?

When the employee is working at home, the lines can be murkier to determine what is arising out of the employment since it is a mixed environment. The specific facts of the work space and the duties required to be performed will need to be examined. It is relevant whether the employee was injured doing something that was specifically a work risk, as opposed to a hazard that the general public would be exposed to, or that the employee would be equally exposed to when not performing job duties.

For example, if you are working on the computer, and a delivery person comes to the door and

you are rushing on a deadline to get something out and trip trying to catch the door before it’s too late, you are likely covered under Illinois workers’ compensation.   The particular hazard that you were exposed to that caused your tripping injury was not the same as that which the general public would face. You were trying to fulfill an obligation from your employer, in a home work environment which your employer knew you were using to accomplish your specific job duties.

Also, if you are working at your computer for multiple hours each day and develop back, wrist, or shoulder injuries as a direct result of that work, that injury should be considered a repetitive trauma which is covered by the benefits of Illinois workers’ compensation. Again, this is an injury that arose out of your specific work environment, and while performing your employer’s work assignments. 

Insurance companies may try to argue that these home environments should not be covered under Illinois workers’ compensation, because your job location and daily performance are not under the employer’s direct supervision and control. But in the situation where you are not an independent contractor, your employer likely is in fact exercising a large amount of control over your means and methods for fulfilling your job functions, even though you are performing those functions at an off-premises location which happens to double as your home. 

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Our policy is to help and represent good, honest people with good claims.  If we find out that you are lying, we (or any good attorney) would likely drop you.   Often defense attorneys will allege that they have good surveillance video on a client.  Our policy is to tell them if they have it, show it, and if it says what they allege we'd drop the case.  That hasn't happened yet and hopefully never will.  We are pretty good at screening potential clients.

One client we won't help is the so called career claimant.  This is the worker that files every possible injury they can, no matter how small, and looks at the Illinois workers' compensation system as a Christmas bonus.  These bad workers simply hurt the good.

The reality is that every case you file is a public record.  If an insurance company sees you file tons of cases, it will cause them to fight your current claim.  It will also give an arbitrator a reason to question your credibility.  This is  especially true if you aren't in a labor job. 

We recently got a call from a woman who had filed 15 claims before her 40th birthday, none from heavy work jobs.  She now has a serious injury and can't find anyone to take her case.  It's kind of like the boy who cried wolf.  Now she really needs help and she can't get it.

We have helped many people who have filed multiple claims.  All of their injuries were legitimate.  But our #1 piece of advice is to just be honest.  If you try to game the system it will catch up to you eventually.

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One of the great things about Illinois workers' compensation law is that if you sustain an injury that will effect you in the future, you can hire a lawyer, go to trial and keep your medical rights open for life as relates to that injury.  We often discuss doing this with clients who have had a surgery where hardware was put in to their body that might some day have to come out or be replaced.

I recently received a call from someone who has open medical rights from an eye injury.  They are in their late 70's.  The injury happened 60 years ago.  That's right, SIXTY years ago.  It's a unique injury and work comp has been paying bills almost every year since then.  She is now blind and that problem traces itself back to the original incident.  Her doctor wants her to be put in assisted living with 24 hour care. 

This treatment of course is very expensive and the facts of this case are unusual.  But if this woman gets the prescription and takes it to the insurance company, they should have to pay for all of it, no matter how long it lasts.  The bigger problem for the family will be that if the insurance company denies the claim, will an attorney come to the rescue and take it to trial.  If a client of ours keeps medical rights open, we of course go back in for them when needed because that is part of the fee we've earned.  But if it's not a client and we can't get a fee, honestly we probably wouldn't do it.

In the bigger picture, it really is a fascinating scenario.  I've talked to people who have open medical rights from cases from the 1980's.  But never before had I talked to someone who has a case from the 1950's.  Hopefully the insurance company will continue to do right by her and pay for the needed care.

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If your claim has been denied because you violated a safety rule that lead to your injury, don’t give up. In many cases, safety violations that lead to injuries are still covered.

A basic rule of workers’ compensation is that work-related injuries are covered regardless of fault. So if you caused the accident, it usually doesn’t matter. In Illinois, this holds true even if you violated a safety rule, although there are extreme cases that create an exception.

Whether you are entitled to benefits often depends on what you were doing when you violated the rule. If you were still acting “within the scope of your employment,” you should be eligible for compensation. If, however, you were involved in horseplay, your claim will probably be denied. It comes down to whether you were performing your job duties when you were injured.

Example: If you fail to attach a safety harness while working on a scaffold and then fall as you’re walking along the scaffold carrying materials for the job, it should be covered. You were doing your job and you were in an area you were supposed to be, etc. However, if you climbed up onto the scaffold during your lunch break, failed to attach the safety harness and started goofing around with some co-workers, then you’re going to have a hard time getting benefits. Each case comes down to the specific facts.

Another example: There was a case where an employee was injured when he jumped onto a moving forklift to catch a ride to lunch. He violated the safety rule that employees were not allowed to ride double on the forklifts, and he was denied benefits. It wasn’t just the fact that he violated a safety rule, but the fact that he violated in a way that brought him outside the scope of his employment. He wasn’t working or doing anything for the benefit of his employer at the time. What he did (hitching a ride) was entirely for his own benefit.

Violating a safety rule can sometimes prevent you from getting workers’ compensation, but not in every case. If you are denied benefits because you broke the rules, get a second opinion, preferably from an experienced work injury attorney.

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.

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Where and when a heart attack occurs does not control whether or not the heart attack is work-related, for recovery under Illinois workers’ compensation law.  Instead, it will have to be shown that some act or aspect of the employment was a contributing cause to bringing it on.

Workers’ compensation benefits in Illinois can be recovered where the condition has a causal connection to the employment.  The employment does not need to be the sole cause, however.  So even where an employee has had a history of heart disease or hypertension, a heart attack can still be considered work-related for recovering benefits.

In order to show that the employment was a causative factor in the heart attack, it is necessary to have some proof of a particular act or aspect of the employment which could bring it about.  Just being at work at the time is not enough. Nor is it enough merely to show that you were at work that day and it happened shortly afterwards.  The employer may try to show, for example, that the heart disease was so progressed that any kind of ordinary exertion would bring on the heart attack.  You can combat that argument with evidence, often from expert testimony of a cardiologist, that the employment activity or conditions were not the kind that people are exposed to generally.  But instead, that there was some extra contributing factor.

Illinois workers’ compensation law will not discriminate against an employee and deny benefits just because he or she is older or has had certain conditions such as a weak heart or hypertension.  As long as the connection is made between the heart attack and the employment, the recovery should follow.  And it should not matter whether the heart attack happened at during work, during a lunch break, or at home in the evening.

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.

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When you’re injured at work, and want to receive workers’ compensation benefits from your employer, how much control do you have over your medical visits?  Many people fear that if they receive the benefits they are entitled to by their employer, they give up some of their rights to choice and to privacy with their doctors.  This should not be the case.

After your injury, Illinois workers’ compensation law guarantees you the right to:

·         choose your own doctor or hospital

·         receive emergency or first aid care at a facility you choose

·         visit your provider without paying a co-pay or other out-of-pocket expense

·         speak with your doctors freely without fear that your privacy is lost.

Your employer will need to know the name and address of the doctor or hospital you choose.  And you will need to give enough information and documentation for your employer to know that your injury is a valid work-related injury.  However, that does not mean that your records become an open book to your employer.  Nor does that mean that your employer has access to speak with your doctors and nurses.

The laws are there to protect your medical and privacy rights, while still allowing you to receive medical benefits.  The laws also help to protect your relationship with your employer by ensuring that you cannot be pressured to give up any of your rights.  In this troubled economy, no one wants to fear losing their job, and certainly not because of an injury that occurred because of the job.  Illinois law provides that protection; all you have to do is exercise the rights you have.

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.

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When you are hurt at work and need medical treatment, you go through all the proper steps:  you go to the doctor or hospital, follow the advice and treatment plan you are given, and you properly notify your employer so that you will receive workers’ compensation benefits.  All should be good, right?  But unfortunately in many cases there is a further complication—the utilization review.

If your employer questions the medical necessity of your treatment for the work-related injury, a utilization review organization can conduct a review of your past, present and future medical treatments related to that injury.  They will make findings as to whether your treatment is reasonable and necessary.  The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, when deciding whether your employer’s insurance should be responsible for your bills, will consider the findings of the utilization review along with the other facts and information presented.

So what is the downside to a supposedly impartial review of your medical treatment by a neutral committee of medical professionals?  The employee can end up the loser in this process, even if the employee ultimately prevails.  Where employers and their insurance companies are involved in making decisions about what is in your best medical interest, and those decisions can affect what treatment you can afford to receive, then there can be a chilling affect on your proper medical care.

This can be true whether the review concerns past, present, or future treatment.  Where the treatment has not yet begun, a review that determines the treatment is not medically necessary or appropriate can cause you to not have that treatment.  Even though the determination by the utilization review organization may not be upheld by the Commission, you may not want to take the chance.   Likewise, you may avoid necessary emergency care if you know that there is a chance that some review board may opine later that the care was not appropriate and you should not be reimbursed.  You could lose important time getting help that could in fact be medically important to your health.

Even if the connection between the utilization reviews and employee healthcare may not seem readily apparent in each instance, you have to be suspect of a process that is injected into the important and trusting relationships between patients and their doctors and the decisions that come from that relationship.

 It is important to remember that you are not without recourse.  Your lawyer can file a 19b petition for an immediate hearing to resolve these issues. Other evidence can be presented to outweigh the findings of the utilization review.  Your health is far too important to let this hurdle stand in the way of getting the proper healthcare you and your physician determine is necessary.

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.

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Only employees are entitled to receive workers’ compensation benefits from their employers under Illinois law if they are injured from their employment.  Independent contractors are responsible for their own insurance.  But how can you determine whether or not you are an independent contractor?   Even if your boss classifies you as one, it does not necessarily make it so.  The specific facts of your relationship are more important.

Many factors will be looked at to determine your proper status, but the major focus is on the right to control the performance of your job duties.  If you are an employee, your workday is subject to the control and supervision of your employer.  When you work, where you work, what you do at work are all decided by your employer. It is not only the end result of your work that matters, but the process you use to get to that end result.

On the other hand, if you are an independent contractor, your boss will be mostly interested in the results of your work, but not necessarily the manner and means used to accomplish that result.  You are likely using your own equipment or tools, making your own schedule, and deciding for yourself the details for how you are carrying out your day-to-day responsibilities. 

In one case, even a taxi driver who rented the taxi from the cab company, kept all his own fares, and purchased his own gas was determined to be an employee.  What governed the decision was that he was told the minimum number of passengers he was to pick up each day, and which geographic area he should stay in so that he was reachable by dispatch radio.  Here the company was in control over the methods, and therefore the driver was an employee.

So just because you are told you are an independent contractor, and therefore not entitled to receive workers’ compensation benefits, you don’t need to except that as the final answer.  Examining the details of your employment will help you see if you can get what you may be entitled to.

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.

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Pre-existing medical conditions may complicate claims under Illinois Workers’ Compensation, but they likely do not have much effect on the ultimate outcome.  Most of us at one time or another have had non-work-related injuries, or have conditions which cause us pain or weakness over the long term.  But Illinois worker’s compensation law won’t use those conditions to keep someone from collecting benefits.

In claims for workers’ compensation benefits, the relevant question is whether an accident or injury arose out of and in the course of employment. The analysis will look to whether the injury is traceable to a definite time and cause on the job.  These questions remain the same even where the injury is a worsening of a prior injury; or where a prior condition made you more vulnerable to the work injury. 

While the past may complicate the inquiry, it should not bar recovery.  You have to look a bit further, to see if the claimed work injury is not any different than the usual course the condition would take over time.  You will have to show the connection between the work injury and the aggravation or escalation of the original condition.

If you have trouble with your knees from an old sports injury, and you are doing a lot of bending and lifting on the job, any worsening of your knees should be recoverable.  Similarly, if you broke your arm as a teenager, and you have a work accident where you fall and reinjure that arm, the original break should not bar the benefits.

As long as your employment is a factor in causing the current condition for which you are claiming benefits, then the fact that the condition existed prior to the employment should not bar recovery for workers’ compensation claims

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.

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Saw an attorney bragging about how he has recovered "billions for his clients."  Now I'm the first to advocate what a difference a lawyer can make in the life of an injured worker, but this puffery is nonsense.

The alleged billions includes what the clients have received for medical bills and TTD payments.  Sure I've helped get TTD for a client that went on to received six figures in TTD payments and the same in medical bills, but I wouldn't take credit for that or calculate it in my success.

There are so many great lawyers out there, but there are also a handful that stretch the truth of what they've done in order to market themselves.  It reminds me of a t-shirt that I saw which I pasted below.

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.

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