By law, Illinois companies are supposed to publish information about workers’ compensation claims in a common area like a break room. There are State provided documents that detail what to do if injured and they are also supposed to make very clear who their insurance provider is.
Unfortunately not every company follows the law and posts this information. While there are fines that could happen for them not doing this, in reality it rarely happens.
So What Do You Do If Your Employer Doesn’t Provide Their Illinois Workers’ Compensation Insurance Information?
The first thing to do is just ask them. Sometimes they’ll surprise you and do the right thing even though they have already done the wrong thing by not making it clear.
When doing this, be careful not to listen to b.s. like them telling you to tell your doctors the injury isn’t work related. They will say that they will pay the bills. It’s a trap or a trick. In 28 plus years of being an Illinois work comp attorney I’ve never actually seen this happen. Once you lie to your doctor, you kill your work comp case.
The second thing you can do is look up the insurance on the Illinois Workers’ Compensation website. Every company that has insurance is registered there and you can even look up who the insurance carrier is based on accident date. That’s important because businesses change insurance companies all of the time.
The other option is to hire an attorney and have them formally file the case for you. It’s not a lawsuit, but a claim for benefits made with the State of Illinois. When they do that it will force the insurance company to respond to your claim.
What About Getting A Claim Number For A Work Injury
One injured worker came to me recently and said their doctor wouldn’t treat them without a claim number and asked where to get one. There are two possible claim numbers.
The first is provided by the insurance company. They make up the number so they have to give it to you. Of course this is a problem if you don’t know who they are or they won’t respond to you.
The second claim number is known as a WC (workers’ compensation) number and is provided by the State of Illinois when a case is formally filed. It has two numbers for the year the case is filed and then the remaining numbers are related to how many cases have been filed before you this year. In other words, if you are the 5,027th person to file a work comp case this year, your case number would be 25WC5027.
But the reality is that there is no law that requires a case number to get treatment. It’s really up to the doctor. An experienced attorney can of course help navigate this issue for you.
Final thought. If your employer is being this difficult, it’s a sign that there will be other attempts to fight a legitimate claim. You have rights under Illinois workers’ compensation law and should not let them discourage you or prevent you from exercising them. This includes getting all of the medical care you need at no cost to you, payment for time off work and eventually a settlement.
If you would like to discuss a case, please call us any time at 312-346-5578. Our state wide network of top attorneys can help you no matter where you are located.
