
If you’ve read this blog for a while, you know that we discuss how a lot of odd circumstances seem to happen in bunches. Sometimes it’s just coincidence. Other times it’s insurance companies or employers trying new strategies in order to screw legitimately injured workers in Illinois out of their rights.
An example of this recently is we’ve seen a huge uptick in people who are hurt on the job and get told to apply for short term disability in order to compensate them for their time off work. They usually end up calling us for one of two reasons. One is that STD benefits are not enough to live on. The second is that those benefits are denied.
We can usually help, but applying for short term disability can make your case more difficult. And that’s why we tell anyone we talk to, don’t apply for short term disability benefits (or long term) if you are hurt on the job. There’s one crystal clear reason for that.
When you apply for these benefits, you have to fill out a form. Every one of these forms has a box to check as to whether or not your reason for being off work is due to a work related injury. If you check yes, you won’t get approved. If you lie and check no, you are now creating a defense that can be used against you in your work comp case.
We’ve seen multiple cross examinations at trial where defense attorneys bring out these forms. It’s their Matlock moment where they can try to spring a gotcha moment on an unsuspecting worker. For most cases the answer is that when you filled out the form you didn’t know your injuries were work related. That makes sense if you have a repetitive trauma problem like carpal tunnel. It’s harder to refute that if you were hit by a forklift or had a wall collapse on you.The most common retort in those cases, when true, is that “my boss made me.” That happens a lot.
The silver lining is that for most people we can get them their work comp benefits. Those benefits pay more than most disability policies and of course pay for your medical care and eventually result in you getting a settlement of some sort. Illinois work comp benefits also don’t expire or have a cap like some disability policies do.
I ask people why they filed for STD and I’d say for 35% of the people lately, they just didn’t know any better. The rest are because the employer or even in some cases the work comp insurance encouraged them to do so. Usually when that happens it’s not a well meaning mistake, but someone who is actively trying to hurt you.
So don’t apply for STD if you’ve been hurt on the job. And if you did, get with an experienced work comp lawyer right away to try and straighten things out. You can call us any time at 312-346-5578 to speak with a lawyer for free.