Workers' Compensation Commission--Not Civil Court--for Work Injuries
Injuries that take place while doing your job duties generally fall within the coverage for Illinois workers’ compensation benefits. The workers’ compensation system is set up to provide both the worker and the employer some benefits and some trade-offs in compensating injured workers.
The benefits for the employer, is that there will not be any lawsuit for negligence in civil court. Workers’ compensation insurance will cover the cost of the injury. For the worker, getting benefits to pay for your medical treatments and other losses for your injury is much more simplified and certain. You do not have to prove that your employer did something wrong in order to get paid, but in a negligence case in civil court you do.
The trade-off for the worker, though, is that the workers’ compensation benefits are the exclusive remedy against your employer for work-related injuries. Whatever is available in benefits from the workers’ compensation system is what you get. Of course, is you have a good case, and an experienced attorney pursuing your case, then you could do well in recovering what you have lost from your injury. Though you are limited in not being able to bring another case, you are benefitting from not having to prove fault against your employer.
Nonetheless, employees will try to find cracks in the system, and see if there is a way to bring another case. Recently, a worker tried unsuccessfully to claim that the employer’s filing technicality meant that the workers’ compensation remedies did not bar another claim for negligence. But instead, the spirit of the workers’ compensation system was upheld. Where the employer is properly insured, the company has the right to dismiss an action for negligence, and that is what happened in this case.
This relationship only exists, though, between the worker and employer. If there was another person or company that had some part in your accident or injury, then there may be a third-party case. You may have a case against a company for a defective product, or against another driver of a vehicle in an accident. Exploring these options may produce another source for recovery from your injuries that is larger than what workers’ compensation pays. Time limits for filing a lawsuit may be different, so you want to be careful not to miss out.
But when it comes to your employer’s responsibility for a work accident, workers’ compensation stands in the place of having to show that the work injury was the fault of your employer and having to go to trial on those issues.
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.
