It’s Thanksgiving week. Side note. We are never closed. If you ever want to speak with a lawyer for free, fill out our contact form or call us at 312-346-5578. If it’s after hours we have a 24 hour answering service who will page us right away. And we’ll call back right away, usually within minutes and always the same day.
There’s a lot to be thankful for. Here are ten great things about Illinois workers’ compensation right now.
1. In person hearings are making a strong comeback. Covid caused a lot of problems for the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, but we are on the way back to recovering.
2. One great thing Covid did for work comp was make it possible for mundane situations, like routine court statuses, to be done online through Webex. This has made the system and the lawyers who handle these cases much more efficient.
3. Illinois work comp cases are now worth more than they were at any time before. This is great news if you do happen to get injured. Settlements are getting much higher.
4. Some really bad attorneys have retired or lost their license to practice law.
5. Injured workers are becoming more educated about the law, their rights, how the system works, etc than any time before. There are a lot of great resources out there that provide free, straight forward information. We are proud to be one of them.
6. Under Illinois law, unlike some other states, you don’t have to let a nurse case manager come to your doctor’s appointments and you can prevent them from talking to your doctor about your care at all.
7. Unlike some other states, there isn’t a cap on how long workers’ compensation benefits can last. If you are seriously injured your benefits can last for years.
8. Unlike Florida work comp cases, from what I’ve been told, you don’t have to resign your job in order to get a settlement. And in Illinois, almost every work injury has some sort of value.
9. Settlements under Illinois workers’ compensation law are tax free. They are compensation for your injuries, not income, so there are no State or Federal taxes to pay.
10. In almost every instance, you get to choose your own doctor. And no matter who you treat with, there are no co-pays or out of pocket expenses. You can truly get the best medical care possible without it making you go bankrupt.
So there’s a lot to be thankful for. Of course, it’s best not to get injured at all, but those things happen. So I’m thankful that when workers in Illinois are hurt, they are protected by the strongest, fairest work comp laws in the country.
