When you get injured on the job and can’t go back to work, you get temporary total disability benefits (TTD). This is pay designed to help you get by financially while you recover. The goal is to allow you to focus on your health, get the treatment you need and eventually get back to work.
With some injuries, you and your doctor know for sure that you’ll be able to get back to work no problem. For example, if you break your foot and can’t work a factory job because you can’t stand, if your doctor releases you once the fracture has healed and you’ve shown you can walk without pain, it’s likely that you’ll return to work without any problems.
Other injuries aren’t as straight forward. If you have a back injury and work a job with a lot of heavy lifting, sometimes the test to see if you can safely return to work is to just give it a try. That often happens when you’ve done physical therapy and/or had steroid injections and are either feeling pretty good or the doctor believes you should be ok to try it.
When you get released to go back to the job, you might have restrictions such as no lifting over 20 pounds or having to take a break for ten minutes every hour. That’s an indication you are not in physically as good condition as you were before your injury. When that happens, it’s not unusual for the injured workers we talk to and help to feel nervous about going back to work.
In fact, many people tell us that there’s no way they can go back to work. That often stems from them knowing that there isn’t a real way to do there job with restrictions or because they just don’t feel physically up to it yet. Most people give it a go and do what they can because if your doctor releases you and you don’t try to go back to work, there will be no more TTD. Most people can’t afford to do that.
So what happens if you do try to go back to work with restrictions or without and it’s physically too painful to do the work. By that I mean your back locks up, your leg gives out, you have significant shooting pains, etc.?
If that happens, you should do a couple of things right away:
- Stop working. Take a break, take a breath. See how you feel in 15 minutes.
- Assuming you don’t feel better and don’t physically feel you can try again, tell your boss or some supervisor what happened, e.g. “I was lifting the engine with Steve and I had the worst pain in my back that shot down my leg. It’s throbbing and really hurts.”
- Immediately call your doctor. Try to get in with them ASAP. If it’s going to be a delay, go to an ER.
If you do sincerely try to work and can’t, it then comes down to will your doctor take you off work again. If so, you’ll get more TTD and more medical care. That said, if you can’t get into your doctor’s office for a month, you might go without benefits for a month.
Because of this, when you do get released to try and work, we highly recommend that you schedule a check-in appointment within two to three weeks of your return to work date. That time frame makes sense because while hopefully you can return to work without problem, it’s common for the body to break down again after doing a strenuous week long shift. It also makes sense because sometimes your boss will honor your restrictions for a bit, but then pressure you to do more.
The bottom line is don’t stress. The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act can protect you in these situations as can a good lawyer. If you have any questions about this and want to talk to an attorney in your area, call us any time at 312-346-5578 for a free, confidential consultation.
