Workers Compensation Lawyer in Chicago, Illinois Work Injury Attorney

Without naming names, there are a handful of workers compensation attorneys in Illinois that have a reputation for "settling short."  This basically means that they will tell their client to settle the case even when they know the claim is worth more money?

Why do they do this?  Our belief is that these firms feel that it's easier and thus better to get a case in and out the door rather than do the hard work to actually get a good result for the client.  Or they are just lazy.

Sometimes there laziness only costs their clients a couple of thousand dollars.  Other times it leads to tragedy. 

We won't name names, but a Peoria workers' compensation lawyer who is notorious for selling out his clients told one client who had a major injury to settle the case for $55,000.  The client couldn't return to work and realized that this amount just didn't seem right.  He came to us for help and we recommended a central Illinois law firm that is known for fighting for their clients.

Not too many months later after getting the case ready for trial and making the best case possible, the new lawyer we suggested was able to resolve the case for $250,000.00, almost a $200,000.00 improvement.

Of course this doesn't always happen, but it happens way more than it should.  It's not easy to find a new lawyer if your current one isn't doing the job and a settlement offer has already been made.  Quite honestly it's best to switch before an offer has been given to you as more lawyers will consider your case.  But no matter what happens, if the settlement just seems too low for what you've gone through, don't be afraid to ask around.  Usually when other attorneys hear who is representing you they can tell you if you have someone who is reputable or not.

The crazy thing is that the lazy lawyer lost almost $40,000 in attorney fees that could have been easily had if they just did the right thing.

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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After a work-related injury, it is comforting to know that you can still have some choice as to which doctors you see, even while receiving workers’ compensation benefits. But, like anything in life, there are limits to this freedom of choice.

Illinois Workers’ Compensation law allows an injured worker to receive benefits for the medical services of two physicians of choice, in addition to emergency and first aid treatment. This means that the insurance company should pay for the visits to a doctor you choose, and also for others to which that doctor may refer you, in the same chain of referral. You are then able to pick another doctor, who can also refer you to others. 

Once, however, you have had your two picks, you are not able to receive benefits for a physician of your choosing, unless the insurance company agrees to your selection.  

There are some gray areas, though where it may seem as if it is the employee’s choice of doctor, but the employer actually has a hand in it. In these cases, often it can be held that the employer’s involvement made it their choice, and preserved one of the two choice options for the employee.

Recently, the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission looked at such a situation, and found that the employer had intervened in the choice. The employee had gone to see his doctor, and was referred to another for further examination. After that, the employer’s nurse case manager recommended another doctor, who the employee saw voluntarily. When the employee later saw another doctor that he chose himself, there was a dispute about whether that was a third choice that the employer would not be responsible for. 

In fact, according to the Illinois Commission, the involvement of the nurse case manager in scheduling and going along on the appointment, kept it from being counted as one of the employee’s two choices. Also of note to the Commission, was the fact that the employee was not represented by an attorney at the time of this physician referral and visit.

Seeking treatment for your work injuries in a proper and timely manner can be critical both to your medical treatment and to your ability to recover the medical expenses. Being able to choose your own physicians, within the scope of the Illinois law, can help that process along while also helping your comfort level.

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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It will probably happen to all of us at one time or another: that unexpected fall that seems to come out of nowhere. When such a fall happens at work and causes an injury, will you then be able to receive workers’ compensation benefits from your employer? The answer depends on the specific circumstances of your fall.

For an accident to be work-related, it should be closely related enough to your employment that there is a causal connection between the two. Determining whether an unexpected fall, with no apparent provocation, is related to your employment, is not always clear-cut. An accident such as a fall would generally be held to arise out of your employment if occurred in the performance of your job duties, or while doing something that is reasonably expected to perform your job. Also, an accident can be work-related where it occurred because of some risk related to your employment that the general public would not be exposed to.

In the case of the random, unexplained fall, this can be a bit more tricky to determine. Illinois courts have found a work injury where a worker fell on stairs for no apparent reason other than possibly misjudging where the bottom of the stairs was. In this case, the court said that the fact of how she fell did not prevent workers’ compensation benefits from being awarded. Of greater importance was the fact that she was on those stairs in the course of her job, and had items in her hands preventing her from being able to catch her fall—items which she would reasonably be expected to be carrying for work at that time.

In contrast, however, in a recent Illinois decision, an unexpected fall at work with similar facts was determined not to arise out of the worker’s employment. In this case, the main difference was that the items the worker had in her hand were not necessarily related to her job performance, and there was no evidence the items related to the fall at all by distracting her or preventing her from catching her balance. In addition, the fall occurred in a hallway used by the general public, and there were no physical conditions which contributed to the accident. In fact, the worker allegedly said that she just tripped over her own feet. 

Two workers with accidents that may have seemed, on the surface, to be the same and likely to produce the same result, in fact yielded different results. The specifics of each situation have to be looked at closely to make the determination whether an accident would be covered under   Illinois workers’ compensation benefits. 

Like any posting on this blog, please don't make a final conclusion about whether or not you have a case just by reading what I said here.  Call or e-mail us and we'll go over the unique facts of your claim for free.

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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A reader who was not happy with the settlement offers he was getting or how he was treated sent us the following:

I was treated just awfully by my insurance company any employer during my injury.  I went 5 months without a check for no reason.  My attorney is telling me that my case is worth around $50,000 if we go to trial.  I have already rejected that offer.  Can the Arbitrator, after seeing how bad I've been treated, decide to award me more money than the case is normally worth?  If that happened would the case be appealed?  No human deserves to be treated the way I was.

Unfortunately, Illinois workers' compensation rules don't allow for pain and suffering.  An Arbitrator technically could award whatever they want, but if they did it would surely be appealed and reversed.

If the insurance company is not paying benefits without a valid reason, you can file for penalties and fees and that will add a little to the result and punish them for their bad behavior.  But in general, workers' compensation is not a windfall unless you are catastrophically injured and no one wants that to happen.

The reader is correct that no one deserves to be treated poorly, but there is also no way to change an award at trial or at settlement because of hurt feelings.

I am sure this response is not what our reader wanted to hear.  But any good attorney lives by the motto that I'm going to tell you the truth, not what you want to hear.

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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A reader asks:

I am a store manager and it is in the worst part of town, it has been robbed before and they have had gang shoot outs where employees cars were shot. 12-24-10 i put the deposit bag in my right front pocket and walked 10 feet to my car. As soon as i got there a black male pulled a gun on me and told me to give him the cash, which i did. i went in the store called 911 and my dm, I can't sleep and i am very scared to go to work, can u help me?

In general, every day stress cases under Illinois workers compensation law are not covered.  If your boss yells, if you have a lot of work piling up, if it's too much for you to handle, usually there is nothing that can be done if you just have a mental injury.

On the other hand, if what you experience is sudden and shocking then you might have a case even if there is no physical injury.  Our reader would probably have a case because what happened to him doesn't typically happen to the general public.  If he went to a psychologist who felt he should be off of work he would likely get workers' compensation benefits for both his medical care and his time off of work.

Moral of the story is that you should never assume you don't have a case.  These cases are much tougher to prove than if you got hurt lifting a box, but legitimate cases should and usually do prevail.  So if you aren't sure if you have a case or not just ask us.

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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A caller the other day was freaked out because he thought his case was going to trial.  At the last minute, his attorney called him and allegedly said that they were still going to trial, but the injured worker did not need to be there.

News flash, just as you can't have a baseball game without a pitcher, you can't have an Illinois workers' compensation arbitration (trial) without the injured worker present.  It's simply not possible.

I'm guessing what happened is that the lawyer either wasn't honest or didn't communicate very well about what was really happening.  Most likely the attorney was going to either try and have a settlement conference or was simply continuing the case as a courtesy to the defense lawyer.

Either way, I chuckle a bit when I get these calls because while I know of many great Illinois job injury law firms, so many of them are terrible at the customer service end of being an attorney.   They are great with the case and things usually work out fine in the end, but they don't know how to speak with clients.

This caller was smart to investigate something that didn't make sense.  I encouraged him to press his lawyer for a clarification and I believe things worked out between them.  Remember, you are the client so if you aren't getting the answers you need or don't understand what you are being told, speak up!  The lawyer should be direct and honest with you and you should be the same way with them.

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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Getting in and out of a car is something we do many times each day, but in some situations you can be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits for an injuring yourself doing just that.  Frequently we are asked about situations like this--whether a seemingly ordinary activity can actually “arise out of employment” to trigger benefits.

In a recent case, a police officer injured her knee and required surgery, when she heard it pop while getting out of her squad car.  This may seem like an activity that most people, including the officer herself, would do in the course of their typical day, and not be connected specifically with employment.  But this case shows that you have to look at the particular facts of the situation, to decide if you may be entitled to benefits for an employment injury or accident.  Certain extra facts can change the activity from a neutral activity to an employment-related activity.

 The arbitrator in the police officer’s case determined that the extra facts made the case different than the general public getting in and out of a car, and different than the officer herself getting in and out of her family car when she was not on duty.  Her work duties required her to wear a uniform that included a 30-pound gun belt with accessories, a large radio, and a protective vest. Performing her job meant that she got in and out of the squad car about 40 times each day, while wearing the heavy and bulky uniform.  These details were enough for her knee injury to have arisen out of her employment and entitled her to collect Illinois workers’ compensation benefits.

These types of cases are clearly very fact-specific, which is why talking to an attorney to evaluate whether you have a claim is so important.  A situation that may seem ordinary and not employment based, may in fact be determined to be potentially compensable when scrutinized by an attorney. 

 If you were injured because of something you would have been exposed to with out without your employment you may not have a claim.  Also, if the injury resulted from a risk that was specific to you personally and not specific to your job, you likewise may not have a claim.  The turning point may be those extra facts, like the bulky, heavy police uniform, that change your injury from personal to compensable under Illinois workers’ compensation.

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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Winning and losing when it comes to lawsuits is not as easy to measure as many people may think.  Most court cases don’t go all the way to a trial and aren’t decided by a pronouncement from the judge.  Settlement is the most frequent outcome in litigation.  A “sure thing” with a positive result is often times preferable to “rolling the dice” after a long trial with an uncertain outcome.

So how do you know if the settlement your attorney is recommending can really be considered a win for you?   You have to have a hardworking, experienced lawyer working for you, and then you can have confidence you’re getting the most out of your settlement that’s available.

We were proud of one settlement recently, which showed just how variable an outcome can be without the right lawyer working for you.  A client came to us after his prior attorney had attempted to settle his case.  The attorney told him the offer was $20,000, and that was the best that could be done. 

Well, it turned out that $20,000 was only the best that could be done without putting the work into the case that the client deserved.  We took the case, and pursued the claim as it should have been done.  Just before trial, we were offered $40,000—double what had been deemed “can’t do better.”  That was what we felt was the best could be done based on the client’s injuries and recovery.

Sometimes an offer is the best that can be gotten, but you won’t know you have the best offer, unless you know you have the right attorney working hard on your behalf to really go for the win.  If you aren’t happy with what’s been offered you can always go to trial.

As a client who doesn’t regularly deal with Illinois work injuries, it’s of course a challenge to know if what you have been offered is fair.  There is no sure test, but if your lawyer has been lazy before the offer was made, it’s probably a sign that a better result can be had.

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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A lot of cases go smoothly and the law is followed.  In some cases, however, your benefits get denied or delayed for no reason.  The good news is that there is a solution called penalties.

In not so plain English, here is the law:

19k = (k) In case where there has been any unreasonable or vexatious delay of payment or intentional underpayment of compensation, or proceedings have been instituted or carried on by the one liable to pay the compensation, which do not present a real controversy, but are merely frivolous or for delay, then the Commission may award compensation additional to that otherwise payable under this Act equal to 50% of the amount payable at the time of such award. Failure to pay compensation in accordance with the provisions of Section 8, paragraph (b) of this Act, shall be considered unreasonable delay.

19l = (l) If the employee has made written demand for payment of benefits under Section 8(a) or Section 8(b), the employer shall have 14 days after receipt of the demand to set forth in writing the reason for the delay. In the case of demand for payment of medical benefits under Section 8(a), the time for the employer to respond shall not commence until the expiration of the allotted 60 days specified under Section 8.2(d). In case the employer or his or her insurance carrier shall without good and just cause fail, neglect, refuse, or unreasonably delay the payment of benefits under Section 8(a) or Section 8(b), the Arbitrator or the Commission shall allow to the employee additional compensation in the sum of $30 per day for each day that the benefits under Section 8(a) or Section 8(b) have been so withheld or refused, not to exceed $10,000. A delay in payment of 14 days or more shall create a rebuttable presumption of unreasonable delay.

So there is a punishment for bad behavior, but it requires a lawyer who will actually do the work.  On top of these penalties, you can also have your attorney's fees paid.

Often a penalties petition is filed in order to prod the insurance company to do the right thing or give yourself leverage.  But if they don't do the right thing and your lawyer doesn't proceed to a hearing on this issue then you probably are at the wrong firm.

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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A common question among workers who have job-related injuries is how much time they have to bring their claim under Illinois workers’ compensation law. It’s a very important question, because if you miss the time period for filing, you could lose your right to bring your case at all.

There are actually two important time periods to consider. The first, is the period to give notice to your employer that you were injured and that the injury arose out of your employment. You should notify your employer as soon as possible, but not longer than 45 days after the date you became injured and knew it was work-related. 

The second period is the statute of limitations period to file your claim with the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission. You have the longer of: two years from the last payment of compensation from your job, or three years from the date of your injury. 

With regard to the determination of the three-year limitations period that runs from the injury date (as well as the 45 day notice period), sometimes it’s a bit more complicated to determine the exact date of the injury. This is especially so where the injury is not a one-time accident, but rather a repetitive trauma. Generally, in this situation, the date of injury would be the point in time that a reasonable person would become aware of the causal relationship between the fact of the injury and the employment. You have to use great care with a repetitive trauma injury, that you discern the correct date, and do not let your notice or filing time lapse. Even if you continue working with your injury, the time will continue to run out. There is no relevance to the last day you were able to work, only the day that the injury and its connection to your job manifested itself.

When calculating the two-year limitations period that runs from the last payment of compensation, there can be pitfalls there too. What constitutes “compensation?” This could include payments such as workers’ compensation benefits, employer group insurance benefits, and wages that are not merely salary, but are related to the injury or disability. You should be wary of statements made by your employer or the insurance company about the nature of any payments, and the implications for filing your claim on time. 

Whether it relates to payments you received, or the date you were injured, checking out the specific facts of your situation with a good workers’ compensation attorney will help you to avoid getting locked out from bringing your claim. 

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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Settling a case for a workers’ compensation claim may seem similar to its “cousins”-- the case in civil court for personal injury or medical malpractice, but in fact there are significant differences.  Though they bare a family resemblance, beneath the surface they have distinctions.

In personal injury and medical malpractice claims, there is a proof of fault component that is not present in workers’ compensation cases.  However, the trade-off, is that there are more types of damage remedies in civil court cases than in workers’ compensation, so the amount recovered can vary much more.  In workers’ compensation, the damage potential is usually more defined, because it is more specifically related to the injury, recovery, and wages. 

For this reason, civil lawsuit awards of damages are capable of showing more disparity by region, from Chicago area to downstate Illinois.  A Chicago jury, for example could place a value for an injured back at $100,000, factoring in pain and suffering.  A similar injury could be assessed by a Peoria jury as being worth $50,000.  

This kind of variability by region is not usually seen in workers’ compensation cases.  Though some judges may be more conservative than others, it is not necessarily based on geography as it can be with jury trials.  Since the damage award is pegged to more specific measures, a worker with, for example, a herniated disc that makes $40 per hour should have a similar outcome to someone in Carbondale working a similar job and with a similar injury.

Because workers’ compensation damages have these differences as opposed to personal injury and medical malpractice, settlement would also correspondingly be different.  With a more measurable likely outcome, a settlement offer should be more measurable as well, and should not vary widely between Chicago and downstate.

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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After you have filed your claim for Workers’ Compensation benefits for your work injury, you would ordinarily expect to get an offer from your employer’s insurance company.  Most cases do settle.  But the insurance company does not have to offer you a settlement, and may in fact try to use the prospect of settlement for strategic advantage.

It might appear to the insurance company that they can gain a business advantage by not offering a settlement, or delaying making an offer.  After all, they have nothing to lose by not offering you a settlement, because if you hire an attorney to pursue your claim, they should end up paying what you should be paid anyway.

Time is important to you, the employee, though.  If you wait too long to bring your claim, you will lose your right to get one.  But patience and a great attorney could go a long way to helping you break through that strategy and get the compensation settlement you may be entitled to. 

If you are not represented, and are attempting to do it yourself, the insurance company is likely to just pay your medical bills and lost wages, and nothing more.  Some may make an offer which is substantially less than you could be entitled to, and may try to cap your right to future medical treatments that may be necessary.  Injured workers should be very cautious about settlement.

In fact, we got a call from a nice man looking for a Glenview workers’ compensation lawyer, who had experienced this “treatment.”  He was offered a settlement two days before he was supposed to have shoulder surgery.  The insurance company knew that it would be cheaper for them to buy him off with a low offer than to pay his medical bills—not really an ethical thing to do.  Fortunately he was smart enough to put his long term health over a short term financial gain.  The fact is the money will still be there in the end.

That’s where proper representation can be vital.  Skilled care and evaluation of all settlement terms is often necessary.  And when there is no offer coming, we proceed on and prepare for trial, and get a settlement through proceeding with the process and preparing for trial. 

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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I wrote http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/chicagos-real-law-blog/2011/01/illinois-workers-are-about-to-get-screwed.html about the possible workers' compensation "reform" that might go down in Springfield.  If you are concerned, call your legislator.

Imagine if the insurance company could pick your doctor every time you got hurt on the job.  Do you think they'd have an incentive to pick the ones that care about healing an injured person or would they instead pick the ones that will save them money, worker be damned?

This could be an awful day for the working man.

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 have had a work injury in Lake County, it’s not necessarily the case that you’ll be better represented by a Lake County lawyer.  The main courthouse for Lake County is located in Waukegan, and it serves as the hub for the county’s criminal and civil litigation.  However, workers’ compensation is not subject to the same geographic divides.

If you have a divorce, traffic, or criminal case that will be heard in Waukegan, you may get an advantage by hiring an attorney that regularly practices out of that courthouse.  The local Lake County lawyers that are appearing in those courtrooms regularly, may be familiar with the judges and be privy to other information that could be helpful to their clients.  There may be local county rules and procedures that they would be familiar with as well. 

But the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission is not organized in a county-specific way.  The Waukegan courthouse has two arbitrators that will hear cases that are assigned to that location.  The cases are assigned to a courthouse based on the proximity of the location of the accident or injury.  For your workers’ compensation case, you are likely better served by choosing a lawyer based on expertise in the specifics of workers’ compensation, rather than based on geography—particularly where the case is unique or difficult.

A lawyer that practices in Chicago may have more experience with a variety of relevant Illinois workers’ compensation cases, and it is not necessary for the lawyer to have that much experience at the specific hearing site.  Also, many Chicago lawyers are actually from Waukegan, Libertyville, Highland Park, and other suburbs where it is very feasible to go to both Chicago courts and to the Waukegan courthouse.

In the workers’ compensation area, the substantive legal experience can often help you better than the geographic familiarity.  All that said, we know some great Waukegan work comp attorneys.  If you want a recommendation or just wish to talk about your case, please call us at (312) 346-5578.

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 pursuing your claim for disability benefits against your employer, you may be asked by them to have an independent medical examination (IME).  The IME can be used to evaluate the extent of your injury, as well as issues of causation of the injury.  But the IME report should be used properly for the purposes of assessing your claim, and not to delay your treatment or payment.

We were recently asked about this scenario, by an employee wanting to know whether there was a time limit for the physician doing the IME to submit the report from the exam.  This employee had seen the physician 40 days ago, and still had not seen a report.  The delay in delivering a report of the exam was preventing scheduling further medical treatment, and receiving disability pay. 

Though there is no definitive time limit for producing a report (other than at least 48 hours before the arbitration hearing), the physician is required to deliver the report “as soon as practicable.”  This means that there should not be any unreasonable delay or gamesmanship, though 40 days sounds like just that.  But you’re not without recourse.

First, if you find out that your employer received a copy of the report, and you have not, the physician may be barred from testifying at the next hearing.  Second, if the time seems like it is getting curiously long, there may be something going on, and your lawyer should be on top of the situation.  He or she can bring a 19b petition for an emergency hearing on the matter.  This remedy is available when benefits or medical bills are unpaid because of such a delay.   Also, a subpoena may be issued by your attorney to compel production of any reports or records that will be used as evidence in the case.

The longer the delay, the more suspicious I become.  Sometimes it is just a lazy or busy doctor, but since many IME physicians churn these things out as a huge source of income, when the report doesn’t arrive quickly, it leads me to believe the doctor found against the insurance companies.  Doctors make so much money off these exams and want the insurance company business that they will often issue preliminary reports within 24 hours.  We find that the insurance companies typically turn those over right away.

So while there is no “set in stone” time limit for an IME report to be submitted, you don’t have to just sit and wait while you are losing treatment or benefits.  A good workers’ compensation attorney can help remedy the situation.  And by the way, if you have an IME, go to trial and the IME report is not presented, the Arbitrator is allowed to presume that the report would have been in your favor.

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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In order to recover Illinois Workers’ Compensation benefits for a work injury, the accident needs to have occurred in the course of your employment.  But frequently, employees are injured at work while doing their job in a dangerous or negligent way.  What then?  Does the employee’s bad conduct take away the right to benefits?

Generally, you will still be entitled to benefits, even if you are acting negligently and against company policy, as long as what you are doing was related to performing your job.  One of the main goals of workers’ compensation insurance is to remove the element of fault and contributory negligence from this arena, and simplify the process to receiving compensation for work injuries.  So it would seem reasonable to expect that in most cases, you could still be covered even if you are responsible for making a bad choice.

Recently, a forklift operator was injured when he tampered with the seatbelt on the forklift.  The spring loaded mechanism opened up and struck him in the eye.  Fixing or altering the forklift parts was not part of his job duties, however riding on the forklift and using the seatbelt was.  So even if the employee was negligent in his manipulation of the seatbelt, he was doing it not for his own personal benefit, but in the course of benefitting his employer.  He is likely to be covered by workers’ compensation for his injury.

Illinois courts have supported this principle, holding that if the employee was where he was supposed to be and doing work that was part of his employment, then even committing a safety violation or other prohibited activity, would not make him ineligible for workers’ compensation benefits. 

 On the other hand, in a case where a woman was using the laundry press at work for her own personal clothes and not for any work uniforms or other job purpose, she was not acting in the scope of her employment.  She should not be entitled to benefits for the burns she got while operating the press. 

The distinction is whether it was a prohibited activity that is not part of work, or whether it was a prohibited manner of doing work that is for the benefit of your employer.  If it is the second, then it should not matter how many times your employer tells you not to do something; you still would be covered if you were performing your job and the accident arose out of that job performance.

One exception to this principle, is that you cannot benefit from workers’ compensation if you committed the dangerous or wrong acts intentionally, knowing that what you were doing was likely to cause injury.  Bad conduct that violates company policy is one thing, but acting without regard to likely consequences, or knowing you would likely cause injury is another.

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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