Shoulder Injuries And Illinois Workers Comp

By Mike Helfand on March 11, 2024 Posted in Injuries

We help injured workers in Illinois every day. Shoulder injuries are unfortunately quite common, and we help make sure workers get the right attorney for their case along with the medical care they need and a settlement when they are all better. We have been doing this for over 20 years and would be thrilled to help you.

Causes of Shoulder Injuries

The workers we help get hurt in a variety of ways. Here are some of the most common:

Overexertion/Heavy Lifting – Workers who lift, push or pull heavy items on a consistent basis, are susceptible to shoulder injuries. Sometimes workers don’t use the proper lifting techniques. Sometimes they are simply asked to lift too much.

Traumatic Event or Fall – Shoulder injuries happen after certain one-time events such as a slip and fall or a high-impact accident. We see these injuries often with construction and warehouse jobs where heavy machinery and working from heights are common.

Repetitive Motion – Jobs in which employees are asked to repeat the same motion again and again, day after day, may experience a shoulder problem. Working at a computer all day, working on an assembly line, or painting are common work activities that lead to repetitive motion injuries.

Bad Ergonomics – Not every employee has the right ergonomics at their workstation. If someone’s chair or desk/table isn’t set up properly, it can lead to shoulder discomfort and ultimately an injury.

Specific Types of Shoulder Injuries

Common shoulder injuries that occur at work include fractures, dislocations, torn rotator cuffs, bursitis, frozen shoulder, SLAP tears, and impingement.

Workers Compensation Process

Whether your shoulder injury happened after a one-time traumatic event or over a period of time, you should report your injury to your employer. Seeking medical care is critical – for your recovery of course, and for your workers compensation claim. The sooner you do so the better.

We recommend you keep notes during this process on the following:

• When did you get injured?
• What was the cause of your injury?
• What is your diagnosis? How severe is the injury?
• What are the dates of your doctors visits? Who treated you? What was the treatment or plan of action?
• How has your injury impacted your job duties? How has it impacted your daily life activities?

Also keep copies of all your medical bills, doctors’ reports/opinions, insurance statements, etc.

A workers compensation lawyer can help ensure you are compensated for your medical expenses and lost wages. They can also help secure vocational rehabilitation and any ongoing care if you need it. And of course when you are all better, we can make sure that you get the highest possible settlement.

We have helped tens of thousands of injured workers in Illinois. Please contact us for free any time at 888-705-1766.

How Long After A Work Injury Can They Drug Test You?

By Mike Helfand on March 7, 2024 Posted in Tips if Injured

Illinois and many other states have legalized marijuana and also don’t aggressively go after most recreational drug users. While this is a big change in how we all grew up, it hasn’t changed Illinois workers compensation or labor laws.

Under Illinois law, unless you are in a union, your employer essentially can drug test you whenever they want. It typically doesn’t happen a lot except in industries like the medical field where you may have access to drugs and lives are on the line. It does happen a lot after a work related injury.

The reason you might find yourself drug tested after a work injury is not because your employer wants to, but because their insurance company is making them do that. Basically, if you are found to have drugs in your system, it creates a potential defense that can be used to deny your case.

As a quick aside, please know that failing a drug test doesn’t end your work comp case. It just creates a defense. Call us with questions about that or search the blog as we’ve written a lot about it.

A question we get a lot from injured workers is how long after accident can an employer drug test you? The answer is they can do it whenever they want.

But more importantly, the longer they take to drug test you, the less relevant it is. In other words, if you hurt your leg at work on a Friday and they don’t drug test you until the following Tuesday, showing that drugs are in your system is easy to explain. “I was in pain so I smoked some marijuana over the weekend.” They can’t prove when you smoked or that you were inebriated when the accident happened.

On the other hand, if you crash a forklift and they immediately send you to a company medical doctor who as part of his/her exam has you pee in a cup, that’s much more relevant to proving drugs or alcohol were in your system when you got hurt. If it’s alcohol, you’d probably lose your case, but if it’s drugs it can still be explained away.

What you can’t do, if you want to pursue Illinois work comp benefits, is refuse to do a drug test. If you do, winning a case will be almost impossible. And in the least you will create a long, hard road for yourself before you can prevail. I think every work comp lawyer I know would rather have a client who failed a drug test than refused to take one.

All that said, I know some workers don’t report a work accident because they know they will test positive and are worried they will get fired if they do. It is legal to terminate someone who fails a drug test, but it won’t mean you forfeit your work comp rights. If you have a serious injury it’s probably a risk you have to take as not getting work comp would likely cost you so much more.

30 Illinois Workers Comp Questions and Answers

By Mike Helfand on March 4, 2024 Posted in Tips if Injured

We get so many great inquiries. I usually write a long blog post about questions, but thought I’d try something different and give a lot of information with short answers. Here are 30 great inquiries we’ve received.

How long after a work comp settlement until I get paid? It’s typically within 30 days of the approved settlement contract being sent to the adjuster.
How do you tell your doctor you aren’t ready to go back to work? Honestly, you just have to schedule an appointment and discuss your concerns.
How long does it take for work comp to approve surgery? It varies per case, but should happen quickly unless they schedule an IME or have a good reason to dispute it.
If you pass out at work is that work comp? Only if you can show that your job contributed to that happening.
Will I get drug tested if I’m hurt on the job? They can and often do, especially if you are in a job that requires a lot of labor or use of machinery.
How often do work comp cases go to trial? Most don’t, but there are literally trials every day the Illinois Workers Compensation Commission is open.
Can child support be taken from workers comp? Yes, if there is a withholding order.
How often should I hear from my attorney? Whenever there is something to report which at a minimum is every three months.
What is the average work comp settlement? There is no average that would help you figure out what you’ll get. Every case is different based on the injury, your wages, your recovery, any defenses and so much more.
Should I take the first settlement offer? The first offer is almost never the best offer you can get.
What happens if the IME doctor agrees with my doctor? While this doesn’t guarantee that the insurance company won’t play games, what should happen is that they should pay for the treatment your doctor recommends.
Can I be sent to a second IME? Yes if it’s for an issue the first IME didn’t address.
Can I get a loan from my work comp settlement? Yes, but beware as many of those loan companies will charge you crazy high interest rates.
Is it possible to switch work comp lawyers? Yes, but if your case is really old or there is a settlement offer it will be hard to find a good one to take it over. In other words, the sooner you switch, the better chance you have to get it right.
Can workers comp force me to have surgery? No!!!
Does work comp pay for time off to go to physical therapy? Only if you can’t do PT outside of normal working hours.
How much does a workers compensation lawyer cost? Nothing up front. Up to 20% of any settlement they get for you in the end.
How long can I be on workers comp for? Theoretically the rest of your life. There is no cap on payments.
Is Illinois work comp a no fault law? Yes. You don’t have to prove negligence to win benefits.
What are the odds that I will win if I go to trial? No way to answer that without reviewing your case and case issues. That said, workers win more often than they lose.
How do you beat an IME exam? You don’t. Just attend it, be honest and go from there. If you try to “beat it” you will likely hurt your case.
Can you get work comp if you worked for cash under the table? Yes as long as you were an employee and not a contractor.
Does the FCE determine my settlement value? It has an influence as the greater the permanent restrictions you have, the more your case is likely worth.
If I need vocational rehab, do I get to choose the voc counselor? Yes. It’s considered medical care and who to use is up to you.
Are there any Spanish speaking work comp attorneys? Yes, we know a bunch of great ones and for other languages too.
Do you help Federal employees? We don’t as that is a different law completely than Illinois work comp law.
Can I get a free work comp attorney? No, but Illinois workers comp attorneys only get paid if they win your case, so there’s no risk involved for you.
Does workers comp pay pain and suffering? Not exactly, but the seriousness of your injury is considered in your settlement.
Can I get short term disability and work comp at the same time? No. It’s one or the other. If you apply for short term disability you have to state that you weren’t hurt at work. Doing so could kill your work comp case.
What is work hardening? It’s a training program to help you get back to work.

As always, if you have any questions you can call us at 312-346-5578.

When Does Workers Comp Stop Paying?

By Mike Helfand on February 29, 2024 Posted in Benefits

As an attorney we can make a mistake and forget that most injured workers are dealing with the workers comp system for the first time. So things that we know and take for granted as basic might not be so. That’s our fault, not yours.

An example is that I will usually explain to a caller when workers comp benefits should kick and you’ll start receiving pay. But a recent caller flipped the script on me and asked when workers comp will stop paying.

Illinois is a great state for injured workers. Some states have time limits on how long you can receive work comp benefits. That’s not the case here. Theoretically benefits could continue for life. But in most cases that doesn’t happen.

In most cases, you get hurt and you get better and your doctor will discharge you from medical care. Other than getting a settlement, that’s when the insurance company will stop paying. In other cases it could be an IME that says you don’t need any more medical care or that you so, but it’s not work related. And in some cases it happens when they do surveillance on you and decide that you are lying to your doctor.

In some cases your medical care continues but they come up with a reason, often bogus, to stop paying your TTD benefits. And in many cases they just stop paying without any legal reason just to see what you will do. Unfortunately too many injured workers do nothing and the insurance company gets away with it.

The bottom line is that every case is different and when you will stop receiving work comp benefits isn’t the same timeline as when someone else will. Also, benefits can stop and then start again. This can happen due to a court order, a new medical opinion, an aggressive attorney who files the right trial motion or a whole host of other reasons.

And as stated, just because you are no longer receiving weekly benefits or medical care doesn’t mean that you aren’t owed a settlement at some point. And that settlement can and often does include back pay for TTD benefits and/or medical bills.

So while it’s a great question, my honest advice is that it’s not one that I would get too worked up over if I was injured on the job. I would focus on following the medical plan laid out by my doctor and trying to get better. The insurance company is going to always look for reasons to end your benefits. So be prepared, be honest and focus on your health. Those are the injured workers that tend to get the best results.

And as always, if you have any questions you can call us for free any time.

I Keep Hearing Bad Things About A Well Regarded Chicago Workers Comp Attorney

By Mike Helfand on February 26, 2024 Posted in Tips if Injured

Like any other industry, a lot has changed with Illinois workers compensation law since I first became an attorney in 1997. Back then the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission was called the Illinois Industrial Commission. Many of the Arbitrators were old timers who had been there forever and couldn’t lose their jobs. This includes one that was known for falling asleep during hearings and another who was a known drunk. I lost my first trial as a very young lawyer even though evidence was on my side because the defense attorney and the old Arbitrator were very clearly great friends. The fix was in. There was another Arbitrator who regularly screamed at people in a way you couldn’t do today. And there was some very bad and blatant sexism.

Things have definitely improved. While there were many great Arbitrators back in the day too, we don’t see as much nonsense now. Not that it couldn’t happen, but it’s much less likely to happen.

Things change over time and that includes people. There was an attorney who was incredibly respected back when I first became an attorney and was a mentor to all sorts of lawyers including those not in his firm. Over the last few years though, I keep getting phone calls from his clients. They all tell similar stories. He’s really rude. He yells at them. He often doesn’t call back and when he does he won’t answer basic questions. They don’t feel like he is fighting for them.

How does this happen? I don’t know the particulars of this situation, but it’s something we’ve seen over and over. At some point, many older attorneys become disgruntled. Maybe they are sick of the grind. Maybe they wish they could retire but can’t afford to. Their home life could be terrible and they take it out on clients. They are sick. They are burned out and wish they could do something different. It could be a lot of things.

The point is that this isn’t an isolated incident, but sadly something we see repeated over and over. It’s the saga of the older attorney. That’s not to say that there aren’t older attorneys who are still crushing it, but generally speaking, when some lawyers get to a certain age, the passion they used to have is gone.

So what can you do if you’ve realized that you’ve hired the wrong lawyer?

You can seek out new representation, especially if there isn’t a settlement offer yet or the case isn’t that old. It costs nothing to switch. You can also call out your lawyer, explain your frustrations and see how they respond.

It’s not your fault that the attorney is going through something or doesn’t care to do the best job possible. Your case is your life and you get one shot at it. Just like the best athletes now are different than the ones 20 years ago, the best attorneys change too. You need to do what is best for you and your case.

FCCI And Florida Workers Compensation Lawyers

By Mike Helfand on February 22, 2024 Posted in Benefits

If you would like to speak with an experienced workers compensation lawyer for free, call us any time at 888-705-1766.

We have a great partner firm in Florida that includes a family member of a well respected Illinois firm. They exclusively handle work injury cases which is a bit rare in Florida. We were discussing cases and the FCCI insurance company came up. FCCI handles a lot of claims here and a ton in Florida. Here is some important information to know about FCCI cases that they shared with me.

FCCI is very aggressive in defending cases to try to either cut off your benefits, reduce your settlement value or deny your case outright. There are three main tactics they use:

They try to take a recorded statement of injured workers. This is not something you have to provide nor should you.
They conduct a lot of surveillance for both fraud purposes and to try to lower how much the case is worth.
They send nurse case managers to doctor’s appointments. That is allowed, but they try to force their way into appointments which isn’t allowed. Often these nurses will try to interfere with your treatment.

People hire Florida work comp attorneys because it’s a tough state for injured workers and they want to make sure that they get everything they are entitled to. This includes:

Payment for your time off of work.
100% of your medical bills being paid for with nothing coming out of your pocket.
A settlement for the permanent nature of your injuries.

If you have a serious injury, FCCI work comp settlements in Florida can be significant. The firm we work with on cases settled one for over $500,000 and there have been other cases against them in the seven figures. The most common cases involve back and neck injuries, but there have also been a lot of cases regarding shoulder and knee injuries and hand injuries. Most cases seem to settle pretty quickly with the average time to settlement being around 18 months.

FCCI insures all sorts of companies including nurseries, landscape companies, electrician companies and A/C repair companies. It’s incredibly important to get an attorney who has handled cases against them and dealt with their insurance adjusters and also know the Judges who handle these cases. An experienced attorney is not only the difference between winning and losing, but often can be the reason a case is worth tens of thousands of dollars more to you in the end.

SLAP Tears And Illinois Workers’ Compensation

By Mike Helfand on February 22, 2024 Posted in Injuries

The shoulder joint is surrounded by a ring of cartilage known as the labrum. A specific injury to this area is termed a SLAP tear which stands for: Superior Labrum Anterior and Posterior. The injury involves a tear in the top (superior) part of the labrum, affecting both the front (anterior) and back (posterior) attachment points, which potentially involves the nearby biceps tendon.

The entire shoulder and arm can destabilize, even with a minor movement, because the biceps tendon comes into the shoulder and forms the cartilage socket of the ball-and-socket joint of the shoulder.

Causes

We have helped many workers properly recover workers’ compensation benefits against employers when they’ve experienced a SLAP tear. SLAP tears can result from either a one-time traumatic event or from repetitive motions that lead to wear and tear over time. Examples of traumatic events that have led to SLAP tears in the workplace include:

Car or truck accidents

Landing a fall with an outstretched arm

Attempting to catch or quickly lift a heavy item

Dislocation of the shoulder

A fast or forceful arm movement when the arm is above shoulder level

SLAP tears that result from repetitive movements usually involves jobs that require heavy lifting and carrying. These continuous strenuous movement lead to extensive wear and tear in muscles which eventually can result in a SLAP tear. Specifically, workers in the manufacturing and construction industries are known to be at a higher risk for SLAP tears along with truck drivers.

Symptoms

The symptoms of SLAP tears mirror those of other shoulder injuries. These include:

Sensations of locking, popping, or grinding

Pain during movement or specific shoulder positions

Pain when lifting objects overheard

Decreased shoulder strength

Limited range of motion

A feeling that the shoulder might dislocate

Generally, a SLAP tear can severely limit your range of motion which in turn affects your ability to complete day-to-day activities.

Treatment

When seeking treatment for a SLAP tear, it’s essential to communicate symptoms clearly to the doctor, providing details about when and how they began. Diagnosis involves a physical examination assessing shoulder strength, stability, and range of motion along with imaging tests like X-rays and MRIs to rule out bone issues and visualize labral tears.

Non-surgical treatments are typically the initial approach, involving medications like ibuprofen for inflammation and pain management, along with physical therapy focusing on muscle strengthening and range of motion improvement. SLAP tears can take up to six months to a year to recover from. In some cases, arthroscopic surgery may be required if conservative measures prove insufficient.

For those experiencing shoulder pain or suspecting a SLAP tear, prompt consultation with a healthcare professional is crucial for an accurate diagnosis and an appropriate treatment plan to avoid future pain and suffering. That means getting with an orthopedic doctor who has years experience treating these very serious shoulder injuries.

And if you’d like help with the work comp case or just have general questions, we can help you no matter where in Illinois you are. Call us any time at 888-705-1766 to speak with a lawyer for free. There is no commitment and we will treat you like a family member or friend.

Your Employer Is Not The Boss Of You

By Mike Helfand on February 19, 2024 Posted in Tips if Injured

I said to a recent caller that, “Your employer is not the boss of you,” and they were a little perplexed. His response was, “Yes he is, the owner of the company is my boss, and he makes the schedule.”

This conversation was about his employer telling him to ignore his doctor’s restrictions following a work accident that resulted in a back injury. Basically the company was really short staffed and the owner/boss wanted him to come in and help out. He wanted this even though it risked injuring this worker much more severely.

When I say they aren’t the boss of you, I mean they don’t get to override your doctor’s opinion or put your health and safety in jeopardy. You have a legal right to tell them to pound sand. I of course recommend you do that politely, but if you were to get fired for refusing to return to work after a work accident, they’d have to pay you for all of your time off and you’d likely have a wrongful termination lawsuit.

We’ve seen an uptick in these situations happening. It’s actually more common in central and southern Illinois, but happens in the Chicago area too. One of the employers acted like he had built a company and that he never took a day off when in reality he had just inherited a business started by a grandparent. I hate those types of guys and love being a part of bringing cases against them. They act like they pulled themselves up by their bootstraps when in reality they got every break in life.

The Illinois workers compensation laws are crystal clear. If your doctor says you can’t work at all, you don’t work. If your doctor gives you restrictions, if your employer can’t accommodate them, you don’t work. If they can, you don’t do work beyond those restrictions.

But in no case should your employer ever tell you that you should just blow off your doctor, “tough it out” or do anything else that is against what your doctor says.

We know that it can be hard to deal with this type of pressure. An experienced Illinois work comp lawyer who cares can protect you in these situations. If you would like a free consultation with an attorney, we help everywhere in Illinois with our state wide network of lawyers. Contact us any time.

Illinois Work Comp And Safety Violations

By Mike Helfand on February 15, 2024 Posted in Do I Have a Case?

One of the basic premises of Illinois workers’ compensation law is that it’s a no fault law. That means in order to win benefits, you don’t have to prove your employer was negligent. Instead you have to show that your injuries arose out of your job (your job duties or something reasonably connected to your employment) and in the course of your job (while doing your job or as a result of your job).

Despite this, employers and their work comp insurance companies will try to come up with ways to say that you aren’t entitled to work comp benefits even though you were injured on the job.

In one case we were contacted on, a laborer got hit in the face with a falling brick and broke his nose. It happened in a snap and was just bad timing as he looked up when he heard his co-worker who dropped it yell. On the job site, hard hats are a requirement, but he had taken his off to wipe away some sweat and was holding it in his hand.

He filed for work comp with his boss, but told him that because he was hurt while committing a safety violation, he wasn’t eligible for benefits. That’s simply a lie, beyond the fact that it ignores the fact that a helmet likely wouldn’t have even prevented the injury.

You can commit a safety violation and still get workers’ compensation benefits. Remember, it’s a no fault law. Should he have had the helmet on? Yes. But he won’t lose his rights for not doing that.

Where safety violations matter is when you are being reckless or doing something that isn’t part of your job duties. For example, if you have access to a golf cart or other vehicle and drive crazy, taking sharp turns or speeding, a crash injury would likely not be a case.

If you are doing your work while drunk or high, that would most likely not be a case if being inebriated contributed to the accident. In other words, if you cut your hand while using a knife when drunk, that safety violation would kill your case. But if you are drunk and sitting at your work station when a forklift runs into you, it would still probably be a case.

But beyond that, workers aren’t expected to be perfect in order to get benefits. We’ve seen a lot of cases where instructions are to lift heavy objects in teams, but a worker hurts their back doing the job themselves. That’s still a case. And usually the reason they do it is because they were told to or there was nobody else there to help. Or they were just trying to get their work done.

The bottom line is that if anyone tells you that you aren’t eligible for work comp in Illinois for a safety violation or any other reason, be skeptical. We will always give you a free consultation to see if there’s a case or not. Call us at 312-346-5578 any time. We cover all of Illinois.

Reasons Why The Work Comp Insurance Won’t Talk To You

By Mike Helfand on February 12, 2024 Posted in Tips if Injured

About 3-4 times a week we get a call from someone who says that they are looking to talk to the work comp adjuster on their case and have been unsuccessful. I’m not going to lie, most of these people are Amazon workers who are trying to get a hold of Sedgwick, but there are other insurance companies who this applies to also.

So the question is, why won’t the work comp adjuster talk to you?

The number one reason is actually an innocent one. If you are already represented by an attorney, the insurance company can’t and shouldn’t talk to you. They could get in trouble and doing so is unethical. Most injured workers who have a lawyer but contact the insurance company do so because either they can’t get reach their attorney or don’t want to bother them. Neither of those excuses is acceptable.

If you can’t reach your lawyer and that’s a regular problem then they are not doing a good job for you. You should fire them and get a new one which will cost you nothing to do. Get a real advocate in your corner. If you are worried about bothering them, don’t. They are going to eventually make money off of your case. Make them earn it. They are there to be contacted when you need them. It’s not a bother. If your check is late or a medical procedure isn’t getting approved, it’s their job to fix it.

The other big reason and insurance company doesn’t talk to you is strategy. It is their hope that they can frustrate you in a way that will help their case and lower their costs. That’s all they really care about. They don’t lay awake at night worrying about how you are going to pay your rent or bills or if your injury will get worse if it’s not treated in a timely fashion.

So they hope that if they ignore you, you’ll try to work when you shouldn’t or seek out medical care through your own insurance. If you do, it saves them money. It’s a dirty insurance company trick.

The final reason you don’t hear back has to do with how bad some of these companies are to work for. When they have a lot of turnover, it takes a moment to re-assign case files to someone. This can overwhelm adjusters and often they will just ignore newer files until they are caught up. You as an injured worker can get caught up in the crosshairs.

The solution to the last two problems is to file trial motions. That goes back to the first point that your lawyer needs to be an advocate for you. Your job is to focus on your health and communicate with your attorney. Your attorney is there to solve these problems as they come up. There’s no need for you to spend hours on the phone trying to get someone on the line.