Indiana has the worst, IMO, workers’ compensation laws for workers in the country. I haven’t met one attorney who will take a work comp case there because the laws are so bad against employees in favor of employers.

They also have bad medical malpractice laws with draconian damage caps that don’t compensate victims of severe malpractice.  So you’ll see some bad doctors move to Indiana in hopes of limiting their liability.

We’ve seen some companies do that too, thinking they can avoid compensating their employees if they are hurt.  But the problem for them is that they continue to do work in Illinois so they are subject to our laws.  No matter where your employer is based, if you are hurt working in Illinois you get benefits here.

Some companies are blatantly lying to their employees and telling them falsely that they can’t pursue Illinois benefits because the company is in Indiana.  One northwest IN company had employees sign a document that said they wouldn’t bring a case in any state but IN.  That, fortunately, is not enforceable in Illinois.  You can’t waive your right to benefits.

A different company by Terre Haute, according to a caller to my office, just flat out said that Illinois law wouldn’t cover them.  This was for a poor guy that got hit in the head by a piece of steel and knocked out.  He appears to have a brain injury and should have been sent to a neurologist a while ago.  But the employer is trying him to jump through the hoops of IN law that don’t appear to give a crap about your health.

We connected that caller with a central Illinois work injury attorney in our network who should be able to help him.  But it’s a shame that it even had to come to that.  I don’t understand how businesses, even if they are focused on their bottom line, can just toss away their employees health in the way that they do.  This case was especially sad because it appears the employer was at fault.

Bottom line is that you should never take legal advice from your employer.  They aren’t looking out for you and in some cases they are actually working against you.