A guy called me about his work related injury.  I’m not sure he told me everything because he said he was hurt six months ago and his case has been declined even though it sounded like he had a very straight forward, good claim.

He told me that he wasn’t worried that the claim was denied, he was upset that a collection agency was coming after him for the hospital bill from when he first hurt himself and they had put something on his credit report and refused to remove it.

It sounds like a nightmare, but it’s actually one of the easiest problems there is to solve.

There is a law in Illinois that says if you have an active workers’ compensation case, it’s illegal for a medical provider or collection agency to sue you to try and collect payment or to negatively affect your credit rating.  So why is this happening to him?

To have an “active case” you need to formally file your claim with the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission.  This is the first thing we do for clients when we file a document called an application for adjustment of claim.  It’s free, takes no time at all to do and once it’s done we can send a copy of it with a short letter to any creditor and let them know you have an active case and that any attempts to collect from you violate the law.

This almost always stops them from going after you or harming your credit.  And if they continue to do so we can refer you to a consumer fraud attorney we work with who would sue them on your behalf.  That almost never happens though because the law on this is crystal clear.

It’s a great protection for injured workers in Illinois and we also try to smooth things over with the medical provider by getting a copy of the bill and letting them know that we are working on getting it paid.  So it usually ends up as a win for you and a win for them too.

So don’t stress if creditors are breathing down your neck after you got hurt at work. Get a case formally filed and make sure they know about it.  After that just focus on getting healthy.

Questions? Comments?  Did we make no sense?  Need help?  Contact us any time for a free consult with one of our attorneys.  We help everywhere in Illinois.