Workers Compensation Lawyer in Chicago, Illinois Work Injury Attorney

We have received a lot of client questions about social security lately.  So in no particular order, here are some tips:

1. You can receive social security benefits at the same time you are getting workers' compensation benefits.

2. If you are approved for social security that does not mean you are permanently disabled under Illinois workers' compensation laws.  The standards are way different, namely getting social security means it is anticipated you will be off work for more than one year, not necessarily forever.  Proof that you are on social security is for the most part legally irrelevant for your work comp hearing.

3. What is relevant from social security is any medical records relating to your application for benefits.  Sometimes the Government will send you to a doctor and those records can be entered in to evidence before a work comp Arbitrator.

4. When settling a case for someone who is receiving social security, it is common to use what is called "spread language."  When you are getting SS benefits, the Government will take some back if you have other sources of income.  Spread language changes your settlement contract to reflect that the settlement represents payment of a claim over your life expectancy.  You still get the money in a lump sum, it's just that the Government can't take it all back now.

5. If it is anticipated that you might go on social security benefits in the future because of your injury or even if you have just applied for them, it is important to reflect that in your settlement contract.  If you don't prove that you have considered the interests of the Government you may end up losing a ton of money.  The only surefire safe way around that is to take your case to Arbitration and get an award from the Judge.

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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We have a big philosophy on how we treat our clients.  You can sum it up that we do what we think gives them the best chance of success and that we treat them like we would a family member or friend.

Case in point is a recent client.   We are helping them with their work injury, but it happened in a car accident that was someone else's fault, so we connected them with a good personal injury attorney for that.  They were off work for a long time so they needed a referral to a social security lawyer.  Again, we didn't try to handle that in-house, we sent that to someone we think is an expert.

From there regrettably their doctor messed up their surgery so we recommended an Illinois medical malpractice lawyer.  And finally, their ex-wife is making a claim against their benefits so we referred this client to a family law attorney.

It's not the desired path for a case, but it's not uncommon either. 

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 client of ours has been off work for 18 months and is now receiving social security disability benefits.  It is not clear if she will be able to ever go back to work and she asked us if getting social security proved that she is permanently disabled for workers comp purposes.

The answer to her question is no.   Number one, the findings of social security aren't worth anything.  Their standards are different than the Illinois work comp standards.  Number two, it depends on her future medical improvement.  Getting social security doesn't mean that you are disabled forever, it means that there is a reasonable expectation that you won't be able to work for twelve months.

If our client's neck injury gets better and she can return to some sort of work, she will not receive permanent disability benefits as long as there is a stable job market for her.  Time will tell.

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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While at court the other day, one of our attorneys overheard another Illinois workers' compensation lawyer (not part of our office) say something shocking.  The lawyer told his client that it would be illegal to apply for social security benefits while getting workers' compensation.

It is true that a client who is getting both social security benefits and work injury benefits causes more for work for us as lawyers, it is certainly NOT illegal to get both at the same time and it puts more money in the hands of our clients. 

Now we don't know if the lawyer we overheard was lazy, mis-informed or just a liar, but it was pretty shocking as none of his possible excuses would be justifiable in our mind.  This is the danger of hiring an attorney who doesn't solely handle work injury cases and isn't an advocate for their clients.

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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